Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Oct 6: A day after prominent pharmacist Makhan Lal Bindroo was shot dead by gun men in Srinagar, his daughter today challenged his killers that if they have the courage they should come out and face her.
Speaking to media persons, Dr Smriddi Bindroo challenged the perpetrators to come out in public and have a face-to-face debate with her. “I am ML Bindroo’s Kashmiri Pandit daughter. My father will be alive in spirit and they have just killed a body”, she said.
Calling on the gunmen to “have the courage to come out and face” her, she said such people are “just capable of pelting stones and attacking from behind”.
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She said she would keep a smile on as her father lived and died like a warrior. “His words were ‘I will die with my shoes on’. I am so proud he died with his shoes on. Today my father is no more, still I have a smiling face. Because I know my father was a warrior” she said.
Smriddi said her father had taught her to live without fear. “Why do we fear anything? They say fearlessness is life. Fear is death…I used to ask my father, ‘don’t you get afraid?’ He said ‘If I live in fear, then I will die every day. If I die, it will only be once’,” she quoted her father as saying.
She said that her father’s spirit would always remain alive. “See what kind of children he has made. I am an Associate Professor and I have started from zero level. My father started from a bicycle. My brother is a famous Diabetologist. My mother, a female lady, sits in a shop. That is what Makhan Lal Bindroo has made us,” she said.
“As a Kashmiri Pandit he will never die. I, being a Hindu have read the Quran. And the Quran says the physical body can disappear but not its spirit. Makhan Lal Bindroo will be alive in spirit,” she said.
Dr Sidhharth Bindroo, son of the deceased, said that the entire Kashmir was aware about the persona of his father.
“Everybody from Baramulla to Banihal knew what kind of a person he was. He was a chemist but he made a personality of his own, and that is why everybody loved and respected him,” Bindroo said.
Bindroo said his father was a man of principles and he would never do anything which was unethical and lived his whole life with that principle.
“This man gave 40 years of life to Kashmir without expecting anything in the return. There was a time when proper medicine was not available in Kashmir, and he used to rush, by booking the costliest air tickets, to get those medicines which were not available in the market and then dispense them,” he said.
Bindroo said that more than earning money his father was happy in meeting people, and serving them. “In a sort of way a community worker of the society of Kashmir has passed away. Condolences are pouring from all walks of life irrespective of religion. He was loved by all,” he said.
Bindroo said that his father never had rivalry with anyone. “We will leave it to the authorities to decide and ascertain who was behind my father’s killing,” he added.
Makhan Lal Bindroo, who ran two medical stores in Srinagar, including one started by his family in 1947, stayed in Kashmir through last three decades of violence.
The condolences poured in from all walks of life over the tragic killing of Pharmacist Bindroo as many prominent personalities visited the family of the bereaved at their Indra Nagar residence today.
Bindroo was cremated at around 2 pm at cremation ground Batamaloo. Among the people who visited the bereaved family include National Conference (NC) president Dr Farooq Abdullah, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar Singh and Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) president Altaf Bukhari.
Meanwhile, the road from Haft Chinar Chowk to Jehangir Chowk would be named after Makhan Lal Bindroo.
Taking to micro-blogging site, Srinagar Mayor Junaid Mattu said the road would be renamed as a tribute to Bindroo’s contribution to the society.
Mattu said a resolution to this effect will be formally proposed in the SMC General Council.
“The road from Haft Chinar Chowk to Jehangir Chowk (where Bindroo Medicate is located) will be named Shaheed Makhan Lal Bindroo Road as a tribute to his contributions to society. A resolution to this effect will be formally proposed in the SMC General Council. (sic),” Mattu tweeted.
“With family of Shaheed Makhan Lal Bindroo Sahab at the cremation ground at Karan Nagar. Conveyed to them Srinagar’s gratitude for decades of selfless service to the society by Bindroo Sahab and assured them we would honour his name, his contributions and his memory.(sic)”, Mattu said, while sharing his picture with the bereaved family on his twitter handle.
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