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Basharat Peer in New Delhi
As a tribute to the martyrs of Kargil, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will spend some time with their families at a function to be organised on Thursday evening in New Delhi to celebrate the second Kargil Vijay Diwas.
The function will start with patriotic songs followed by a speech by the prime minister.
"Soon after that Vajpayee would take around ten minutes off to greet the families of Kargil martyrs and the soldiers who have won gallantry awards for the Kargil war," a defense ministry spokesman told rediff.com
He is also expected to meet some representatives of ex-servicemen organisations.
The celebrations will begin with President K R Narayanan paying homage to the Kargil heroes by laying a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyothi at 8.30 am on Thursday morning.
He will be accompanied by Vice-President Krishen Kant, Prime Minister Vajpayee, the defence minister and three service chiefs.
Coming days after the Agra Summit, the Vijay Diwas celebrations will not focus on the display of the strength of the Indian Army, Navy or Air Force.
There will also be no exhibition of the state-of-art warfare equipment seized from Pakistani forces during the Kargil war.
However, the fighter jets and helicopters of the Indian Air Force would fly past in 'missing man formation'.
Later at 8 pm in the evening, Vajpayee will light a candle at India Gate and along with him around 1,500 children from different Delhi schools would light candles to honour the Kargil martyrs.
Meanwhile, the government has appealed to the people to light candles at 8 pm on Thursday as a mark of respect to the soldiers who died fighting at Kargil.
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