GAYARI: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said that the nation will never forget the sacrifices rendered by its jawans.

The army chief was speaking at a commemorative event held near Siachen glacier on Wednesday to honour the 140 armymen who died on April 7, 2012 when a huge part of a mountain fell on them.

He said the army after the incident vowed to search all its jawans buried alive under the 120-foot-long and 70-foot-wide boulder and hand over their bodies to the heirs.

“It was an impossible task but the army determinedly accepted it as a challenge,” he said, adding the long drawn search was carried out in a 13,000 feet high area covered with snow.

Gen Kayani said Pakistani and international experts called the search a futile effort and suggested to declare the site a mass grave. Some experts even said that seven to eight years would be needed to dig out the bodies but despite all difficulties, the army was unwavering in its determination, he recalled.

“It is a matter of satisfaction that the jawans of Pakistan army completed the task with unprecedented courage and persistence.”

The army men with the help of 50 excavation equipment worked day and night and recovered bodies of 133 martyrs, he noted.

He said the search would continue until the remaining bodies were found and handed over to their loved ones for burial.

The army chief thanked the Frontier Works Organisation, National Database and Registration Authority, international community and other organisations for their help in the search operation.

Army officers and jawans attended the event in the backdrop of mountains in strategically important Gayari sector.—APP