Saturday, June 11 2005 14:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dehradun: A total of 583 cadets today (Jun 10, 2005) joined the Indian Army as officers in an impressive passing out parade at the prestigious Indian Military Academy in Dehradun amid tight security.

Ten foreign cadets belonging to friendly nations like Bhutan and Maldives also passed out from the academy, which has the honour of producing several war heroes comprising half a dozen Paramvir Chakra winners.

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash reviewed the parade, which was organized at the drill square in front of the historic Chetwode building.

All the cadets marched in files as Admiral Prakash took salute with Army helicopters showering petals on the parade.

After the parade, reviewing officer Prakash presented the award to the winners. The prestigious sword of honour and gold medal was awarded to academy Under Officer Ashwani Sudyal for best all round gentlemen cadet from the regular course and also standing first in the order of the merit from the regular course.

The parade was held amid tight security with army and police cordoning off the surrounding area of IMA in view of serious terrorist threat perceptions.

Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed in an encounter in New Delhi and one of their accomplices arrested from a nearby locality of academy earlier this year, who revealed that they were planning to attack the IMA.