From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: A head constable in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Maneswar Basumatary made his last call to his family members at Kalbari village of Tamulpur in Assam on Thursday morning.
He was one of the 40 CRPF jawans who were killed in an attack by a suicide bomber on Thursday afternoon at Pulwama district along Jammu-Srinagar Highway in Kashmir.
Maneswar left home to report back to duty on February 4 last after spending his leave with the family in his ancestral village.
He is survived by his daughter, Didmaswari, wife, Sunmati, and son.
“The perpetrators must be punished for killing my father, our jawans, even if it means carrying out surgical strikes across the border,” an inconsolable Didmaswari said on Friday.
“We want justice. Give a befitting reply to the cowards responsible for the Pulwama attack,” she said.
Talking to reporters at the family’s residence in Kalabari village in Assam’s Baksa district, she also demanded that the government should look after the family now.
Maneswar had recently visited home, said the slain head constable’s wife with tears running down her face. She was unable to talk further.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday night announced that the state government would provide Rs 20 lakh to the family of the slain CRPF jawan Maneswar Basumatary.
Sonowal extended his condolences to the family of the martyred soldier Maneswar Basumatary and said that his sacrifice in the line of duty would be remembered by the whole nation. “His martyrdom would keep inspiring all those engaged in protecting the country and make the fight against terrorism more intensified,” Sonowal stated.
Sonowal also reviewed the law and order situation of the state in a meeting held on Friday and discussed the dastardly act of violence on CRPF jawans at Pulwama.
The chief minister, through a statement, also condemned the suicide attack on the CRPF jawans at Pulwama by militants and said such dastardly acts would not be able shake the morale of the Indian security forces.
After the attack, there were rumours circulating on social media that three more soldiers from Assam had been killed in the attack.
The CRPF jawans rumoured to have been killed in the blast took to Facebook on Friday to refute the rumours.
One of the soldiers, Mizing Basumatary of Udalguri district said in a Facebook post, “This is fake news. I am doing fine and nothing has happened to me. Please don’t share the fake post.”
CRPF jawan, Pabitra Barman, a native of Bongaigaon, said, “Hi friends…I am fully safe & sound. I’m deployed in other district of Kashmir, which is far away from Pulwama where the mischief happened. Jai Hind.”
Family of the third CRPF jawan, Ananta Saiki of Nagaon district’s Gorubandha, also stated that he was safe.
His sister, Purnima, told reporters, “By God’s grace, Ananta is safe. He called us today. He was on a bus which was ahead of the convoy of 78 vehicles, carrying 2,547 CRPF jawans, that was attacked.”
(With inputs from PTI)