Terror snatched future, killed dreams
PAIN AND GRIEF From an only son gone to families left without a future, each braveheart leaves behind a trail of anger
RUPNAGAR FAMILY LOSES ONLY SON IN THE ATTACK
RUPNAGAR: Twenty-six-year-old Kulwinder Singh’s father Darshan Singh says he is proud of his only son. Kulwinder is one of the four Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan from Punjab, who were killed in the attack on Thursday afternoon. The resident of Rauli village near Nurpur Bedi in Rupnagar district had joined the 92nd battalion of CRPF in 2014. He returned to his battalion in Jammu and Kashmir on February 10 after a ten-day leave.
Darshan Singh, a driver, said Kulwinder had come home to attend the wedding of his aunt’s son and fix the date of his own marriage on November 8 this year.
The family came to know about his death in the terror attack on Thursday evening.
BAHADURJEET SINGH
HE WORKED WITH AN MNC BEFORE JOINING THE FORCE
GURDASPUR: Dinanagar, 11km from district headquarters, a town that had already seen a terror attack in July 2015 leading to seven deaths, lost another of its son, Maninder Singh, 30, on Thursday.
His father Satpal Attari, a retired traffic manager from Punjab Roadways depot, said his son joined the CRPF under sports quota 15 months ago. “I got the news of my son’s death over phone on Thursday midnight,” an inconsolable Attari said, adding that Maninder was an outstanding basketball player and had a n I-T degree. He also worked with an MNC before joining the CRPF. “Maninder told his younger brother he had told him that he would get married only after becoming a senior officer in the CRPF,” Attari said.
KAMALJIT SINGH KAMAL
HE WAS TO CALL, HIS DEATH CALL CAME: TARN TARAN FAMILY
TARNTARAN: Sukhjinder Singh, 32, of Gandiwind Dhattal village in Tarn Taran’s Patti sub-division wanted to settle in Canada after his retirement, his elder brother Gurjant Singh said. Sukhjinder spoke to the family at 10am on Thursday.
“He enquired about all of us. He said he would call again in the evening. But we got a call from his unit at 6pm, informing us of his death,” Gurjant said.
Sukhjinder joined the CRPF in February 2003. “Nine months ago, my brother was promoted to head constable. His retirement was due in 2022,” he added.
He is survived by his wife Sarabjit Kaur, 27, eight-monthold son Gurjot Singh, father Gurmej, mother Harbhajan Kaur besides brother Gurjant who is unmarried.
ANIL SHARMA
KANGRA JAWAN CELEBRATED SON’S BIRTH RECENTLY
DHARAMSHALA: Tilak Raj (30), one of the CRPF men killed in Thursday’s terror attack, will be remembered at his native village Dhewa in Jawali sub-division of Kangra district for his folk songs and an interest in kabaddi.
Tilak, who joined CRPF in 2007, recently came home to celebrate the birth of his second child and returned to Jammu, only on Monday. Son of a farmer, Tilak is survived by his parents, wife Savitri Devi and two sons — one aged two and another just 22 days.
Tilak wrote and sung many songs in Gaddiyali, the dialect of the Gaddi tribe in the hill state.
Afsar Singh, a panch of Dhela panchayat, says whenever he came home he would organise a kabbadi tournament in the village. “He would also write and record new songs,” he said.
NARESH K THAKUR
A DAY AFTER B’DAY, RAJOURI RESIDENT MEETS TRAGIC END
JAMMU: Head constable Naseer Ahmed of Dodasan Bala village in Rajouri district celebrated his birthday at the CRPF’s transit camp at Channi Rama in Jammu on Wednesday, a day before the attack. Ahmed had turned 46.
“It is a tradition in the CRPF family,” said CRPF spokesman Ashish Kumar Jha. “An eerie silence prevailed at his home in Dodasan Bala village,” said a local. “For how long, soldiers will continue to be killed by terrorists? Every time they die, the country will mourn and the government comes out with strong condemnation,” he said, quoting Siraj-ud-din, Ahmed’s elder brother, a head constable with the J&K Armed Police.
Police said Naseer is survived by wife Shazia, daughter, 8, son, 6, five elder sisters (all married).
RAVI KRISHNAN KHAJURIA
CRPF BUS DRIVER HAD CALLED UP WIFE HRS BEFORE ATTACK
MOGA: Jaimal Singh, 44, the driver of the CRPF vehicle that was blown up after a suicide bomber rammed an explosiveladen SUV into it in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, talked to his wife Sukhjit Kaur barely hours before the attack on Thursday.
Jaimal of Moga district’s Ghalauti village, who joined the Central Reserve Police Force in 1993, was on leave recently and returned to Jammu on January 28. “He told me that he is going to Srinagar. The call lasted for a minute only. I kept calling his number throughout the day, but could not connect,” said Sukhjit.
Jaimal is survived by Sukhjit, six-year-old son and a younger brother. The couple’s only child was born after 18 years of marriage, the family members said..
GAGANDEEP JASSOWAL