Jamail was driving the vehicle that was blown up in the attack. (Representational)Father is injured; he is in Jammu, said the five-year-old son of slain CRPF head constable Jamail Singh, as he lit the pyre, along with his uncle, Naseeb Singh, lit the pyre, at his native village, Ghaloti Khurd, in Moga district on Saturday.
Jamail was driving the vehicle that was blown up in the attack.
The child, Gurparkash, said, “He (father) has been hurt; he cannot speak. Everyone is saying now I cannot talk to him on phone, but he can see us. He can see me, so I should not cry.”
Among politicians who arrived for the funeral were Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, her husband and former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal of SAD, Congress MLAs Harjot Kamal and Darshan Singh Brar, Punjab ministers Navjot Singh Sidhu, AAP leader and Lok Sabha MP Bhagwant Mann and local Lok Sabha MP Sadhu Singh.
Badal said Pakistan has become a nursery of terrorism and all countries need to come together and take action against it. “I appeal to PM (Narendra) Modi: let’s take strong action because it is time to teach them a lesson. We cannot accept it any more.”
Mann said, “We will stand by whatever decision the government takes to give a befitting reply…We are with the Army.”
Two other slain CRPF personnel, Sukhjinder Singh and Maninder Singh, were cremated with full state honours at their native places in Gandiwind village of Tarn Taran and Dinanagar town of Gurdaspur, respectively. Union ministers Vijay Goel and Vijay Sampla said they were asked by the PM to share grief with the families.
Many villagers, meanwhile, were not satisfied with Rs 12 lakh compensation and government job for a family member of the victims, announced by the state. A villager, Jagvinder Singh, said “The family has lost its only earning member. They must be given Rs 1 crore.”
With Kamaldeep Singh Brar
