Malik will succeed Roychowdhury as army chief

Vice-Chief of army staff, Lt Gen Ved Prakash Malik was on Friday named the next chief of army staff. He will succeed army chief, General Shankar Roychowdhury on October 1.

The appointment of Lt Gen Malik, the seniormost serving lieutenant general, marks the return of an infantry officer to the top army job after more than a decade. His four predecessors have either been from the armoured corps or the artillery.

Lt Gen Malik was commissioned into the Sikh Light infantry in June 1959.

Born in 1939 in Dera Ismael Khan in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, he has rich experience in handling counter- insurgency operations in the North-East as well as in Jammu and Kashmir.

In July 1995, Gen Malik took over as general officer commanding, southern command, and in September 1996 he became the vice-chief.

He was awarded the Param Vishist Seva Medal in January 1996 and the Ati Vishist Seva medal in January 1986.

UNI