It all ended even before they could have breakfast

JAMMU: It was a routine morning for the middle-aged couple of forward Chandu Chak village of Ranbir Singh Pura sector of Jammu. The husband was getting ready for the office, the wife was busy in kitchen preparing food for him, and the rest of the family. It all changed, however, in a flash.

The fate played a cruel joke, to say the least, on the husband-wife duo, which became a victim of Pakistani shelling along the International Border today, even before the two could have taken a bite of their breakfast meal.

Tarsem Lal (52), a J&K Agriculture department employee, was getting ready for his office, while his wife Manjeet Kour (45) was preparing breakfast for him, when suddenly the death landed at their doorstep in the form of a Pakistani mortar shell on Friday morning.

Tarsem and his wife were survived by their three sons, the elder one in army and posted at Uttar Pradesh, while the younger ones living in Jammu.

Both their younger sons had a narrow escape this morning as they were out of their house at the time of the incident and came to know about the sad demise of their parents from villagers.

Later, in the absence of Bullet Proof (BP) vehicle in the forward village, the bodies of the couple were shifted to the RS Pura hospital in a local tractor trolley by the village mates.

Furious villagers have shown their resentment and lodged a strong protest at RS Pura and blocked the road. They were targeting administration and police for not providing basic amenities during the emergency.

The RS Pura, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Naresh Sharma reached the spot and defuse the situation. Later, he said, “Basically, there was only one JKP’s BP vehicle present with us and following some injuries to Seora Farm, we sent it there. Suddenly, there was casualty in Chandu Chak and it took some time to the vehicle to reach the spot. The villagers concern was too genuine, but we were stuck in the situation and in the worst firing hit area, there was no any possibility to send normal ambulance.”

However, the IGP Jammu Zone, SD Singh Jamwal also said that police has sent more men and machinery to the area to handle the situation. “Police is on alert in the area and remain with the people. Even, we have appealed the forward villagers to shift to safer places for Friday night and three different temporary migrant camps have been established in two schools and one ITI centre in RS Pura.”