Uri attack: BSF jawan Pitabas Majhi from Orrisa succumbs to injuries, death toll rises to 19

Pitabas Manjhi, a 30-year-old soldier was wounded on Sunday morning in the terror strike which claimed lives of 17 security personnel on the same day while one of the armed forces personnel died on Thursday.

New Delhi, September 25: Border Security Force jawan Pitabas Majhi from Orrisa, who was admitted to hospital with severe burn injuries died today, a week after four armed terrorists attacked the Uri base in Jammu and Kashmir. With the death of Pitabas Majhi, the death toll in Uri attack is now stands at 19. According to a report, Pitabas Majhi, a native of Danajhola village of Komna block in Naupada district was severely injured during the terror attack at Uri last Sunday. The Indian Express reported that Pitabas Majhi joined BSF in 2008 and was planning to come to home during Dussehra to witness the birth of his first child.

The 30-year-old soldier was wounded on Sunday morning in the terror strike which claimed lives of 17 security personnel on the same day while one of the armed forces personnel died on Thursday. In August, Pitabas Majhi came home during Rathyatra. Four days after the attack he had spoken to his wife on the phone from the hospital bed and promised her that he would come home soon to see their first child.

The family members of Pitabas Majhi who were eagerly waiting for their young son to come home are now waiting to perform his last rites. On Sunday afternoon at around 3:00 pm Pitabas Majhi’s body arrived at his hometown where the slain soldier will be given final farewell with full military honours. Pitabas Majhi’s family members and his heavily pregnant wife were not in a condition to speak. One of the reports suggests that Pitabas Majhi recently got married and he was the only bread-winner of the family. Also Read – Pakistan blames India for fanning terrorism on its land; Pak media calls Narendra Modi’s speech ‘venomous’

Pitabas Majhi’s death came just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Mann Ki Baat radio programme, honoured Uri martyrs and said, “I pay my tribute to soldiers who lost their lives in Uri terror attack. We have full faith in our Army. The culprits will definitely be punished. This is not just a loss to the families of the martyred soldiers but a loss to the whole nation.”

Narendra Modi also sent a message to people of Kashmir, which has been witnessing unrest for around three months after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. PM Modi also read out a letter of an 11th standard student who had expressed anger over the Uri attack and expressed his desire to do something over it. The student further wrote that he later decided to give 3 hours to studies every day as his contribution to the country. PM Modi appreciated student’s “constructive thinking” and said, “there is a lot of value to the anger that people of the country have. This is a symbol of the country’s awakening”. PM Modi further gave an example, when a war broke out between India and Pakistan in 1965 and the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was leading the country. At that point of time people were going through feeling and anger in the country. There was a fever of nationalism. Everybody was keen to do something for the Indian Armed Forces.

PM Modi said, “At that time, Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji attempted to represent this feeling in an excellent manner to the world and he gave the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ to inspire common people to work for the country”.