Breadwinner gone, martyr’s kin in agony

Sanjay Pathak

Kathua, May 23

Residents of Khanak Sapalwan village in Kathua district are not letting the media meet the family which has lost its sole breadwinner — a brave heart of Assam Rifles, one among six soldiers killed in an ambush in Manipur’s Chandel district yesterday.

Sepoy Pawan Singh (40) of 29 Assam Rifles, a native of Khanak Sapalwan village, was part of the convoy that was ambushed by insurgents of the Corcom — the apex body of six proscribed underground organisations in Chandel district yesterday.

Around one and a half months ago Pawan Singh’s mother Atro Devi, 65, had passed away, while his wife Bindu Devi, 35, and his father Baldev Singh,70, a heart patient, have been bedridden for the past few years.

“Around 15 days ago Pawan Singh had come home to see his ailing father and wife. He had two minor children — 11-year-old Ansh and eight-year-old Pihu. Pawan was the sole breadwinner of the family. We do not know how his ailing father and wife, besides two minor children, will react to the tragedy, which has struck them,” said a villager.

He informed that naib sarpanch Ganesh Dass and other prominent villagers had been requesting mediapersons not to meet the family.

The mortal remains of the martyr have been flown to Delhi and they will be brought to his native village tomorrow.