Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 6: The mid-night shelling from across the International Border by the Pakistani forces has brought unending darkness in the lives of three teenagers, who lost their loving and caring father as well as sweet little sister in the horrendous incident. The destiny has not only put their present and future in most insecure condition but also deprived them of participating in the last rites of their family members.
The deep scar, which this tragedy has left on the minds of these three children, would continue to haunt them for rest of their lives as earning bread for themselves would be their most important priority instead of focusing on shaping their future.
This tear-jerking tale is of the family of Parshotam Lal, son of Laxman Dass of Mahasha Kothe in Arnia area, who along with his minor daughter Kajal lost their lives in the shelling. The shameful act on the part of Pakistani forces has also rendered three other members of this family namely Manish Kumar and Sushil Kumar, sons of Parshotam Lal and Darshana Devi, wife of Purshotam seriously injured.
These injured members have not been informed about the tragedy that has befallen on them keeping in view their condition and Neha Kumari, who is second eldest child of the family and had miraculous escape, has preferred to keep entire misfortune a secret till the doctors confirm improvement in the condition of two injured brothers and mother.
With tears in her eyes, she was seen frequently visiting the doctors to enquire about the condition of her brothers and mother, who were undergoing treatment in different wards of the Government Medical College and Hospital. While her younger brother Sushil was kept in the Disaster Ward, Neha’s elder brother Manish Kumar and mother Darshana Devi were admitted in the Recovery Ward and Intensive Care Unit respectively.
“Please, don’t speak loudly about the death of my father and younger sister as my brothers would come to know about this tragedy”, she said with the choked voice while sharing her agony with this visiting EXCELSIOR Correspondent.
Though some of her close relatives, who too have suffered badly because of shelling, were consoling Neha, tears were continuously trickling down from her eyes as mid-night tragedy has completely shattered the lives of her remaining family members.
She disclosed that because of poor financial condition of the family, her elder brother Manishhad to leave the education to earn money as her father was also not earning much to feed the family of six members. Similarly, Neha too had to say good-bye to education and she started visiting beauty parlor in nearby locality to learn the trade, which she may not be able to continue in the absence of her father. However, they decided to ensure education of Sushil and Kajal, the students of 4th and 9th class respectively.
But the destiny had something else in store for the family as dream of providing proper education to Kajal has come to an end with her death in the shelling and uncertainty looms large over continuation of education by Sushil.
According to Neha, her father, mother and elder brother were sleeping in open in the premises of their residence while as she along with Sushil and Kajal were in the room when shelling started. In the shocking state of mind, Sushil and Kajal rushed to their parents but all of a sudden a big bang took place and that brought darkness in their lives once for all.
None of the surviving children could attend the last rites of their father and sister because they were recuperating in the hospital from the injuries sustained by them in the shelling.
The close relatives of Purshotam, who were also residing in the same premises, too left shell-shocked as one of them Rajesh Kumar, son of Matta Ram was too hit by splinters and died on the spot. His mother and sister-in-law sustained grievous injuries.
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