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| | In a rare gesture, President APJ Abdul Kalam, the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, on Saturday visited the local military hospital to look up an ailing Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw. "Please look after him. He is great son of India," he told the doctors attending on the Field Marshal, the hero of liberation of Bangladesh. On arrival at Wellington, Kalam drove straight to the airport to look up the man he admires (Manekshaw). Shaking hands with one of the most brillant field commanders the Indian Army has produced, President exchanged pleasantries with Manekshaw and was at the bedside of the ailing soldier for over 15 minutes. Coming out of the room, Kalam wrote in the hospital visitors book "he (Manekshaw) is great son and friend of India". He advised doctors attending the 93-year-old Field Marshal to "look after him". The Field Marshal, nicknamed 'Sam Bahadur' by the troops of the Gorkha Regiment, whose patron Colonel he remains to this day, has been ailing for some time at the Army Hospital in this picturesque hill town of Tamil Nadu. Doctors, including some specialists from capital's Research and Refferal Hospital attending on the Field Marshal, said his condition was all right. "The Marshal just suffers from old age complications. Otherswise he is fit." Manekshaw is known as liberator of Bangladesh, as it was under his command in 1971 the Indian Army vanquished the Pakistani Army in Bangladesh. |
