Slain jawan’s last advice for kids
JAMMU: “Study seriously for exams” — Havildar Roshan Lal, one of the four Indian Army soldiers killed in Pakistan shelling in Rajouri district on Sunday night, had this advice for his children when he spoke to his son in the morning.
Lal, 42, hailed from Nichla village in Ghagwal tehsil of Samba district in Jammu. As his family mourns his death and people console them, there was anger and talk of settling scores.
“He died in a proxy war,” said Darshan Kumar about his older brother Lal as mourners gathered at the family home in Nichla. “Let’s settle it once and for all,” said Kumar, who works with the paramilitary Central Industrial Security Force and believes his brother would have inflicted heavy damage on the Pakistani side in a regular war.
Lal, who joined the army in 1995, is survived by his father, Des Raj, wife Asha Devi and two children.
“My father talked to me [over the phone] on Sunday morning and asked both of us to study seriously for the final exams,” said Abhinandan, a Class 10 student at the Army School in Samba. His sister, Artika, is in Class 8.
Besides Lal, Captain Kapil Kundu from Pataudi , Riflemen Ramavatar of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, and Subham Singh, 23, of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district were also killed in the shelling from Pakistan.
Lal, Kundu and Shubham Singh were cremated with full military honours at their native places on Monday evening and Shubham Singh’s body was sent to Gwalior.
Last few weeks have seen bloody skirmishes along the international border as well as the LOC, the de facto frontier, between India and Pakistan. Nineteen people, including 12 personnel, have been killed this year. Heavy shelling has forced villagers living along the border to shift to safer places.