Chandigarh, Sep 15 : “Jai Hind Papa.” As Colonel Manpreet Singh was being cremated in his hometown in the Punjab Mohali district on Friday, a sombre 6-year-old Kabir saluted his father one final time while wearing Army fatigues. Singh was killed in the shootout with terrorists in the Kashmir valley. Since early in the morning, a constant stream of mourners had been accompanying Colonel Singh’s distraught wife, mother, and other family members on their final journey. While the family and others paid their respects, an Army officer was seen cradling Kabir. A relative was spotted holding his two-year-old daughter Banni. Later, Kabir and other family members were spotted clutching to the tricolor-draped coffin of Kabir’s father.Before his father’s body was cremated, he kneeled before it as the cries of “Bharat Mata ke Sapoot Ki Jai” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” filled the air. Full military honours were accorded to the cremation, which included a wreath-laying ceremony and a gun salute. Senior Army and police officers, as well as Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, former Army Chief V P Malik, Ministers Chetan Singh Jouramajra and Anmol Gagan Maan, were also present at Bharaunjian and laid wreaths. Also present was BJP leader Lt Gen D P Vats (retd).The family of Colonel Singh was seen receiving comfort from Purohit and Anmol Maan. Colonel Singh’s mother was observed crying early in the morning as she waited at the door for her son’s lifeless body. Singh’s father, an ex-serviceman who passed away nine years ago, was a third generation soldier. At the funeral, a few of Colonel Singh’s former teachers also showed up. For us, he was a diamond. A teacher who was crying added, “He had indicated he would arrive in December. He was a gift for the nation.Colonel Singh’s first-grade teacher, Asha Chadha, praised him as an exceptional learner. We are really sad tonight, but we are also quite pleased to be the instructors of a martyr who gave his life in defence of the country. The Sena Medal-winning Army officer leaves behind his wife Jagmeet Kaur, a government school teacher in the Panchkula region of Haryana, along with their two children, mother Manjeet Kaur, and brother Sandeep.
Major Ashish Dhonchak was laid to rest with full military honours on Friday in Haryana’s Panipat after losing his life battling terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.In a fire battle on Wednesday with terrorists in the upper reaches of the Kokorenag area of the valley, three Army personnel—a colonel, a major, and a deputy superintendent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police—were murdered. (Agencies)
