Change of guard at Northern Command as Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar retires

Lieutenant General MV Suchindra Kumar on Wednesday relinquished command of Udhampur-based Northern Command on his retirement after achieving the superannuation age, officials said. He served at the post for 15 months, they added.

Lt Gen Pratik Sharma will be the new general officer commanding-in-chief of the Northern Command and will assume office on Thursday amid the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan following the April 22 terror attack in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 persons, 25 tourists and a local.

Jammu-based defence spokesperson Lt Colonel Suneel Bartwal said Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar on Wednesday laid a wreath at Dhruva War Memorial in Udhampur.

“Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar, Army Commander #NorthernCommand laid wreath to honour the supreme sacrifice of the bravehearts at Dhruva War Memorial, Udhampur on superannuation & relinquishing command of the Northern Command,” Jammu-based defence PRO’s office said in a post on microblogging platform X.

Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar took charge of the command-- -- responsible for security and operations along India’s northern borders, including J&K, parts of Himachal and Ladakh --in February 2024 from General Upendra Dwivedi, the current chief of Indian Army.

The development opened floodgates of misinformation on social media platforms, with many accounts claiming that the outgoing GOC had been ‘sacked’ in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack. However, fact-checking media outlets have since highlighted and debunked these claims.