• Source:JND
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A 25-year-old soldier, Rifleman Sunil Kumar, lost his life to severe injuries from Pakistani shelling and was laid to rest with a tearful farewell. Hundreds gathered in his village near the zero line to pay their respects to the 4-JAKLI regiment soldier, who was critically wounded in cross-border shelling in the RS Pura sector early Saturday and later succumbed to his injuries.

Coming from a military family, his father an ex-serviceman and both elder brothers serving in the armed forces, relatives said Kumar was inspired from an early age to join the army and serve the nation.

The majority of residents from his village, Triva in the Arnia sector, were relocated to safer areas on May 8 as a precaution, a day after Pakistan began indiscriminately targeting forward villages along the Line of Control and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir, following missile strikes by Indian armed forces on terror infrastructure in Pakistan.

However, when the tricolour-draped coffin carrying the mortal remains of the braveheart arrived in a decorated army vehicle, accompanied by chants honoring his sacrifice and the nation, hundreds of mourners gathered in the village to bid him a tearful farewell.

Emotional scenes unfolded as his grieving family, including his parents, pleaded for one final glimpse of the martyred soldier. His body was later taken to Parmandal, where he was laid to rest with full military honours.

“The entire village is in mourning as we lost a son of the soil who grew up in this border village and gave up his life in service of the nation,” former sarpanch Balbir Kour told PTI.

“Kumar was a gentleman and was supposed to get married soon," she said, adding that the entire village now stands with his family in this hour of grief. However, she feels the nation lost an opportunity to bring Pakistan 'to its knees' and protect future generations from the mischief of the neighbouring country.

"We have suffered a lot over the years...almost the entire village was evacuated, but we were looking for such a solution where we no longer had to shoulder the coffin of our youngsters or leave our homes again. We were expecting the government to teach Pakistan a lesson so that it can never think of indulging in terror acts to bleed India," she said.

(With PTI Inputs)