Pathankot martyr Lt Colonel Niranjan Kumar cremated with state honours
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2016-01-05 07:55 GMT
<p>Amid slogans of 'Bharat mata ki jai', the mortal remains of Pathankot martyr Garud Commando Gursewak Singh were consigned to flames at his native town in the district on Monday with full military honours.</p><p>The martyr's family members were inconsolable as Hardeep, the elder brother of 25-year-old Gursewak, lit the funeral pyre. Rich tributes were paid to the martyr who was also accorded a gun salute.</p><p>Earlier as the final journey of the martyr, who got married in November last year, began for the cremation ground, Gursewak's mother Amrik Kaur fainted several times while his widow Jaspreet Kaur was inconsolable.</p><p>“Dad! I am on an operation,” were the last words of Lt. Colonel Niranjan Kumar to his father Shivarajan E.K., who called his 35-year-old son on Saturday afternoon.</p><p>Shivarajan was anxiously waiting for his son to return the call, hoping that the operations would get over soon. But, he was left heart broken when the news of his son’s death reached him on Sunday morning.</p><p>“I was not aware that my son was in the operation fighting terrorists. I called him on Saturday to discuss a few things related to the family when he just said - ‘Dad! I am on an operation’,” said Mr Shivarajan, proud father of Lt. Col. Kumar.</p><p>Lt. Colonel Niranjan Kumar, a member of the National Security Guard’s (NSG) Bomb Disposal Squad, was killed while he was trying to defuse a live grenade from the body of a dead terrorist at the Pathankot airbase.</p>