Killed jawan's father wants "befitting reply" to enemy

"The government should respond to the dastardly act by the enemy (Pakistan Army) in a befitting manner. That will be the real tribute to my martyred son," Lance Naik Sudharkar Singh's father Sachchidanand Singh said after the cremation of his son yesterday.

"Hamari iccha hai ki dushman ka datkar muqabla karke usko usi ki bhasha mein jawab dena chahiye," (we want that the enemy should be dealt with in a befitting manner)," Singh told PTI from Dadia village in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh.

"Sudhakar was our strength and was supposed to come to the village on February 15-16, but now everything is lost," Singh said.

The 30-year-old deceased soldier, the youngest of the four siblings, had joined Army on April 7, 2002. He is survived by wife and four-month-old son Bhaskar.

When asked whether he was satisfied with Government of India's response on the issue, Singh said the government has its own responsibilities but this situation "demands an equally befitting action."

The martyred soldier's cousin Prem Singh said Sudhakar's father-in-law was also a retired Army man and despite losing his son-in-law, he wants his grandson to join the Army.

Fully supporting the views of the grief-stricken father, Prof Kailash Tyagi, from government MVM college in Bhopal, who is also the Ph.D guide of former Army chief General V K Singh, said, "It is not advisable to remain defensive beyond a point as it will lead to cowardliness." MORE