Umesh Gopinath Jadhav, 40 will be the only guest at the wreath laying ceremony at the Lethpora (Kashmir) campus of the CRPF to mark the first anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 jawans lost their lives. Umesh is a special invitee… he has done something which no other patriotic Indian has done.
Since the tragedy last year on this very day, Umesh did something very special. He visited the houses of all the slain jawans to collect soil from their homes. He has kept it an urn which he plans to present as a mark of respect to the CRPF personnel at Lethpora.
Collection of the soil was not easy. “I travelled close to 61,000km to visit the house of each jawan to collect soil from their homes. The bereaved families cried with me… so did I,” said Umesh who is a singer by profession.
A year has gone by, but the wounds are still there for everyone to see. Life has changed completely for the residents close to the Srinagar-Jammu highway when JeM terrorist Alim Dar rammed his vehicle into one of the vans of a CRPF convoy at around 3.00pm in the afternoon on this very day last year. Moments later what all could see were mangled and severed bodies and the smell of stench and blood.
Usman runs a grocery store close to the place where the explosion took place. “I will remember the day till I die,” he says. “It was terrible, nauseating and really really frightening. I still can hear the sound of the explosion, can’t sleep at night… my mental peace has gone. I have been to the doctor many times, but still can’t get those tragic pictures out of my mind,” he adds.
Yes, it was indeed a terrible sight for others too staying in the area. Sixty-year-old housewife Mujiba Akhtar also remembers the day very vividly. “That attack just changed our lives and we are still suffering. They (terrorists) not only killed the jawans, they damaged our reputation also,” she states. Mujiba also said that due to the huge explosion many houses in the locality have developed cracks. “Some of those houses may collapse any moment… but we continue to live on as we have nowhere else to go,” she adds.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted Friday his tribute to the fallen jawans of Pulwama.
“Remembering the fallen CRPF personnel who were martyred during the dastardly attack in Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir) on this day in 2019. India will never forget their sacrifice,” Singh tweeted. He also said that the entire country stands united against this menace and committed to fight terrorism.
See link:
https://twitter.com/rajnathsingh/status/1228140067484422144
The question however is on a day when the Kartik Aryan-Sara Ali Khan-starrer Love Aaj Kal will hit the screens and lovers will be busy spending cosy moments together, how many will remember the slain jawans. They had wives too, girlfriends too, kids and parents too. Somewhere and at someplace they will shed silent tears remembering their sons who left them forever.
The real heroes of India, will anyone else cry for them today?
PNN
