Sarbananda Sonowal lends shoulders to mortal remains of Maneswar Basumatari

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday lend shoulders to the mortal remains of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari, who was killed in Pulwama attack on Thursday. Air Force personnel raised slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Veer Jawan, Amar Rahe" at Guwahati International Airport, as the mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari were being taken to his native village in Baksa.On Friday, Sonowal announced ex gratia of Rs 20 lakh to the family of Basumatary.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday directed the ministers in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states and party MPs to attend the last rites of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, who were martyred in Pulwama terror attack, in their respective states and constituencies.Most of the soldiers, who fell victim to the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama that shook the nation, hailed from Uttar Pradesh.Ten of the 40 martyred soldiers were from Uttar Pradesh, five from Rajasthan, four were from Punjab while two each belonged to Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.Other soldiers who lost their lives were from Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka, Assam, and West Bengal.Nearly 40 CRPF personnel were killed after a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district with a vehicle laden with explosives.The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.JeM, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, claimed the responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged in the blast.

Reflecting the outrage in the country, Prime Minister Modi earlier on Friday said, "The blood of Indians is boiling." He issued a clear warning to Pakistan, declaring that the "guardians" of the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack will be "definitely punished.