CHANDIGARH: Wearing camouflaged military clothes, six-year-old Kabir, the son of Col Manpreet Singh who was killed in a gun battle with terrorists in Kashmir, saluted his father one last time before the mortal remains of the braveheart were consigned to the flames with full military honours near Chandigarh on Friday.
Away in Haryana, the mortal remains of Major Ashish Dhonchak, another soldier who laid down his life fighting terrorists in Kashmir, were consigned to the flames at his native village in Panipat amid chants of “Bharat Mata Ke Sapoot Ki Jai” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” renting the air.
Singh’s house in Bharaunjian village witnessed a steady stream of mourners who joined his inconsolable wife, mother and other family members in his final journey. An army officer was seen holding Kabir, as the family and others paid their last respects. Singh’s two-year-old daughter Banni was held tight by a relative.
As the remains reached his home in Mullanpur near Chandigarh, Kabir was later seen clinging to the tricolour-wrapped coffin of his father. He bowed before his father’s body just before cremation. The cremation took place with full military honours. Punjab Governor Baniwarilal Purohit and Punjab Tourism Minister Anmol Gagan Mann, among others, laid the wreath on Singh’s body.
Major Ashish Dhonchak
Major Ashish Dhonchak was consigned to the flames at his native village in Panipat with full military honours. The body of Dhonchak was taken to his native Binjhol village in Panipat in an army vehicle where the last rites were conducted after a wreath-laying ceremony and a gun salute. Thousands of mourners joined the grieving family.
It took about three hours for the funeral procession to cover a distance of about 8 km from the martyr’s home in the town to reach his village as mourners gathered to bid him a tearful adieu. Senior Army officials and villagers joined the martyr’s family.