Kishtwar bids adieu to martyr

Kishtwar/Jammu, September 14

A soldier’s family in Kishtwar was preparing for his marriage in December but fate had something else in store as the braveheart laid down his life fighting terrorists in Rajouri. The mortal remains of Rifleman Ravi Kumar Rana of 63 Rashtriya Rifles were brought in a military vehicle to his hometown Kishtwar, where thousands of mourners gathered to bid him a tearful adieu on Thursday.

Two suspected terrorists from Pakistan were also killed in the gunbattle.

Emotional scenes were witnessed at the house of Rana at hilly hamlet Wasnoti-Galigarh, 15 km from Kishtwar town, where his fiancée joined the mourners and burst into tears. “I have not imagined such a fate which has shattered my life… Had I known about such a happening, I would have met him for once and talked to him but couldn’t succeed to do so…,” she said amid wails from the family and friends.

The body of Rana was supposed to reach his hometown after a wreath laying ceremony at a military garrison in Rajouri on Wednesday but bad weather did not allow helicopter operation and later his Tricolour wrapped coffin was dispatched by road.

The body of the fallen hero reached his house by midnight and later it was taken in a procession to a nearby cremation ground on Thursday morning amid high pitch sloganeering in praise of his sacrifice, nation and the Army.