New Delhi, August 19

Former Indian Army Chief General Sundararajan Padmanabhan, who led the force during Operation Parakram — launched to deploy troops along the western borders following a terror attack on Parliament — died at his home in Chennai last night. The Army said General Padmanabhan passed away in Chennai following prolonged illness at the age of 83. Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi condoled the bereaved family.

Known affectionately as “Paddy” among his peers, General Padmanabhan was the Army Chief from September 2000 to December 2002. Operation Parakram was the biggest deployment of the force. After the withdrawal of forces, an assessment resulted in change of war deployment planes and the much-discussed ‘cold-start-doctrine’ that envisages deployment of forces at short notice was introduced.

Born in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram on December 5, 1940, General Padmanabhan was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery on December 13, 1959. Maj Gen BS Dhanoa (retd) recounted an incident of 1992 to describe the personality of the former Army Chief.

Gen Dhanoa was then a Captain stationed at Ferozepur. He wrote on X that the Armoured unit mess, close to General Padmanabhan’s house, often saw late night revelry. Dhanoa said: “One day he invited all youngsters to an ‘at home’ one evening and said “you guys know how to enjoy yourselves. I am certain when it comes to action you’ll have as much zeal, if not more.” — TNS