Braveheart cremated with military honours

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Jalandhar, December 26

The last rites of Lieut Col Karanbir Singh Natt, who passed away on Sunday after remaining comatose for eight years, were held at Ram Bagh cremation ground, near Jalandhar Cantonment, here today.

Veteran Army officials, including Lieut Gen JS Dhillon, serving defence personnel and staff from the civil administration attended the last rites held with military honours. Martyr’s elder daughter Guneet Kaur lit the pyre. Former minister Tript Rajinder met Lieut Col Natt’s father Col Jagtar Singh Natt and wife Navpreet Kaur and expressed his condolences to the bereaved family.

Col Jagtar Singh Natt said, “I am a proud father. My son was not only a selfless Army man, but also a devout Sikh who would not have his breakfast before his morning routine of reciting Gurbani. His 160 TA unit had Muslims in majority with whom he also used to celebrate Eid. When I visited him in a Delhi hospital after he suffered injuries, his mobile phone was handed over to me. The status that he had posted on WhatsApp on that day in November 2015 read: ‘I do not know how my spirit will end, but no one will say I gave up’.”

Lieut Col Karanbir Singh Natt was injured in a counter-insurgency operation in Kupwara, Jammu & Kashmir. A militant holed up in an abandoned hut had fired at him and a bullet had smashed his lower jaw.

He went into coma and remained hospitalised for eight years in the Army hospitals at New Delhi and Jalandhar.