General Nirmal Chander Vij stepped down on January 31 as the Chief of Army Staff, making way for General Joginder Jaswant Singh.

Gen Vij, the 21^st army chief, handed over the Chief of Staff baton to General Singh outside Army Headquarters located in the eastern wing of South Block, which also houses the Navy Headquarters, Defence Ministry, External Affairs Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office.

• Gen N C Vij's plans

Vij was commissioned on December 31, 2002, a time when Indian forces were slowly but surely emerging victorious in the battle against the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir [Images].

It was during his reign as army chief that, in November 2003, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir after 14 long years of constant shelling.

Vij, who was born in Jammu in January 1943, is from the Dogra Regiment.

He did not let the period of peace -- no one was sure then how long it would last -- go waste. He pushed the army to complete fencing work along the 740 km LoC, a task that was achieved last year.

The fencing, along with vigil of soldiers and paramilitary troops on the LoC, ensured that the infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan to India dropped to negligible numbers.

Gen Vij, speaking to the media, said he was happy to be leaving after having helped bring about a "semblance of normalcy" in Jammu and Kashmir.

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"Infiltration has come down to a trickle and the number of militants left inside the state has come down from 3,500 to around 1,700," he said.

The outgoing general praised his officers and soldiers for quickly finishing off the job of fencing the entire LOC [almost the entire length of the LoC, except for a small stretch high up in the mountains, has been double fenced] and said they deserved the credit.

He said proof of success in the war on militancy in Jammu and Kashmir is seen in the fact that the recent local elections saw an unprecedented 60 percent voter turnout.

"The army has restored the confidence among people in the state," he added.

Major General (retired) Ashok Mehta, who writes on defence issues, said that Gen Vij's outstanding legacy would be bringing down militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, besides completing the LoC fence.

• Read about A winter of promise for J&K

"Pakistan was dead against the fence and tried hard to stop it from coming up," he pointed out, adding "but it is to Vij's credit that he went ahead with it and after the ceasefire ensured its completion in record time."

Mehta said that the fence would prove a formidable hurdle for terrorists seeking to infiltrate into India. And with fewer terrorists coming into Jammu and Kashmir, militancy was bound to come down.

"The fact that news about terrorists killing innocents is no longer a daily affair is Vij's greatest contribution," added Mehta.

• The courage to say no!

Vij defended the army from charges of indiscipline, the reference being to soldiers attacking their seinors and civilians.

"The army has 1.2 million personnel; one or two incidents cannot be the basis to tarnish the entire force," he said.

He insisted that the Indian Army had high standards of discipline that it maintained at all costs, and any breach was punished.

Vij added that the Armed Forces Tribunal, which would look into complaints by armed forces personnel against colleagues and seniors, would be set up soon.

"The draft is almost complete and is with the government. From there, it will go to Parliament to be enacted and then the tribunal will soon be set up," he said.

An ironic confirmation of how successful Gen Vij was in curbing terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir comes from the fact that even after retirement, he will be residing in the Delhi Cantonment area and not at his new residence located in Gurgaon, south of Delhi.

This move comes after an intelligence assessment placed him high on terrorists' hit list.

Only after the threat perception is lowered will Gen Vij move out of the cantonment, which is considered safer and more secure than a private residence.