A 149-member marching contingent from UAE, with a band comprising 35 musicians from that country, led the 68th Republic Day parade at Rajpath on Thursday. Hence, the UAE contingent was given the honour to lead the parade. Leading the UAE contingent was Lt Col Abood Musabeh Abood Musabeh Alghfeli. The UAE is the second country after France to send troops to participate in the Republic-Day parade of India, a tradition started last year. The UAE contingent got a formal invitation from the Indian Army to participate in the Republic Day parade about three- four weeks ago.

Source: dna January 26, 2017 10:18 UTC