Antehri: The last rites of Army jawan Mandeep Singh, who was killed by terrorists in Macchil sector of Jammu and Kashmir, were held with full state honours here on Sunday , even as his family and villagers demanded that Pakistan is given a befitting reply for its repeated misadventures. People of his village Antehri said they will not be celebrating Diwali as the mark of respect to the martyr's supreme sacrifice. However, each household has decided to light a "diya" in his memory.
Mandeep's sacrifice is the second loss to the district within a week after BSF constable Sushil Kumar, who belonged to Pehowa here, was martyred in Jammu district. Antehri is famous as a village of soldiers.Several youths from here are serving in the armed forces.
Earlier in the day , a pall of gloom descended on the village after the body of the jawan, wrapped in the Tricolour, reached here. People thronged the martyr's house to pay their last respects before the coffin was carried in a bedecked vehicle for the last rites.
The martyr whose body was mutilated by the terrorists, was given a gun salute by the Army, which sounded the last post.
Mandeep's father lit the funeral pyre in the presence of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, senior Army officers and officials from the district administration. Villagers who kept chanting "Shaheed Mandeep Amar Rahe" also raised anti-Pakistan slogans.
The 30-year-old soldier was scheduled to return to his village to celebrate Diwali and for a ceremony in connection with the family's newly constructed house here, but instead, he returned in a coffin, his family and local villagers, all of whom were inconsolable, said.
Mandeep's sacrifice is the second loss to the district within a week after BSF constable Sushil Kumar, who belonged to Pehowa here, was martyred in Jammu district. Antehri is famous as a village of soldiers.Several youths from here are serving in the armed forces.
Earlier in the day , a pall of gloom descended on the village after the body of the jawan, wrapped in the Tricolour, reached here. People thronged the martyr's house to pay their last respects before the coffin was carried in a bedecked vehicle for the last rites.
The martyr whose body was mutilated by the terrorists, was given a gun salute by the Army, which sounded the last post.
Mandeep's father lit the funeral pyre in the presence of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, senior Army officers and officials from the district administration. Villagers who kept chanting "Shaheed Mandeep Amar Rahe" also raised anti-Pakistan slogans.
The 30-year-old soldier was scheduled to return to his village to celebrate Diwali and for a ceremony in connection with the family's newly constructed house here, but instead, he returned in a coffin, his family and local villagers, all of whom were inconsolable, said.