Salute son, laid down life for nation: Major’s mother

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, September 14

“I have given birth to a lion’s son. I will not weep, I salute him. He laid down his life for the country,” said Kamla Devi, mother of Major Ashish Dhonchak.

Lal Singh (60), father of the deceased Major, was in a state of shock after learning about his son’s martyrdom.

Major Dhonchak was martyred in a gunfight with terrorists in Anantnag district of South Kashmir. Major Dhonchak was felicitated with the Sena Medal on August 15.

Inconsolable, his father kept repeating ‘sab khatam ho gaya’. Scores of relatives, villagers, politicians and administrative officials kept arriving at his house to offer their condolences. Breaking down, Major Dhonchak’s father met all of them.

Women relatives were seen consoling the distraught mother Kamla Devi, wife Jyoti and his three-year-old daughter.

Major Dhonchak’s body will reach Panipat tomorrow morning and the last rites will be performed at his native Binjhol village. Family members said the body would arrive at their new house at TDI City.

Major Dhonchak was to come home on his birthday on October 23 and had planned to move in to their new home that day. The family was planning to organise ‘griha pravesh’, said his uncle Ramesh.

Born on October 23, 1987, Major Dhonchak had joined the Army in 2013. He was pursuing MTech at the time. His first posting was at Rajouri in J&K. He was promoted as Major in 2018 and was again posted to J&K, he added.

He had completed his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya at NFL. He was a good badminton player and a gold medallist.

He was the youngest of four siblings and the only brother of three sisters — Anju, Suman and Mamta. He got married in 2015.

He is survived by his wife and a three-year-old daughter, Vamika.

Panipat SDM Mandeep Kumar said the body of Major Dhonchak would arrive tomorrow between 9 and 10 am. His last rites would be performed with full honours at his native village.