Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan to send top Army officials at the cremation of CDS Bipin Rawat

As a mark of respect, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan will be sending top Army officials at the cremation of CDS Bipin Rawat and his wife that will take place on Saturday. The cremation is expected to take place at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment. Sri Lanka will be represented by Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, Gen Shavendra Silva. He will be accompanied by Ex CDS Adm Ravi Wijegunaratne, (Retd) who was the coursemate of CDS from National Defence College, India. Bangladesh will be represented by a 3-star general.

The Royal Bhutan Army will be represented by Brig. Dorji Rinchen, Deputy Chief Operations Officer, Royal Bhutan Army. He is the second senior-most officer of the Royal Bhutan Army after the Chief Operations Officer. Nepali army will be represented by Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt General Bal Krishna Karki who will be representing the Chief of Army Staff Gen Prabhu Ram Sharma.

Indian Army and defence establishment has close linkages with forces of neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan. Gen Bipin Rawat as the Indian army chief was conferred the honorary general of the Nepalese Army in March 2017 at a special ceremony at Nepal President’s official residence. As a tradition, Indian and Nepali armies confer honorary rank of General to each other’s chiefs which signify the close military ties both countries have.

A lot of countries will be represented by the defence attaches based in Delhi. In some cases, envoys of foreign missions based in Delhi will also be representing their countries. In the aftermath of the tragic death of General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 defence personnel, there was an outpour of condolences.

More than 20 countries have reacted so far, including US, France, Russia, Israel, UK, Australia, Poland, Czech Republic, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Singapore, EU, Sweden, Bangladesh, Oman, Iran, UAE, Greece. The Presidents of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Prime ministers of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba and Bhutan Lotay Tshering were among the first to react and send condolences messages.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III in a message said, “General Rawat left an indelible mark on the course of the U.S.-India defense partnership and was at the center of the Indian Armed Forces’ transformation into a more jointly integrated warfighting organization.”