Grieving village of Jaimal calls for befitting reply

Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service
Moga, February 16

CRPF Head Constable Jaimal Singh was cremated with full state honours at his native village Ghalauti Khurd in Moga district on Saturday afternoon.

Thousands of people drawn from Ghalauti Khurd and its surrounding areas, including his family members and relatives, joined the funeral procession.

Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal along with senior Akali leader Tota Singh attended the cremation ceremony while her husband SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal paid floral tributes to the martyr just before the cremation. Local Congress MLA Sukhjit Singh Lohgarh and senior civil and police officials of the district were also present.

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed with relatives and friends of the martyr wailing and sobbing as the body of the brave cop reached the village in the morning. Villagers said the sacrifice of this brave son of soil would not go in vain.

Amid a heavy police force deployed at Kot-ise-Khan town and adjoining Ghalauti Khurd village hundreds of youths raised slogans against Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan demanding a befitting reply from the Centre to the neighbouring nation.

Sukhbir Badal said, “It is high time that India responds to attacks by Pakistan.” He called the neighbouring country a “nursery of terrorism”.

After the cremation, Punjab Local Bodies, Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and MP from Sangrur and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann met the aggrieved family members of Jaimal Singh and offered their condolences.