Anantnag encounter: Scores pay tributes to army officers in Mohali, Panipat

The mortal remains of Colonel Manpreet Singh and Major Aashish Dhonchak, who made the supreme sacrifice in a gunfight with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, were brought to their hometowns in Mohali and Panipat, where the last rites were conducted on Friday.

Also read: Soldier missing in counterterror operation underway in J&K’s Anantnag

Scores of people turned up at their residences to pay their last tributes. The mortal remains of Colonel Manpreet Singh were brought to his home at Mullanpur in Mohali district, while that of Major Dhonchak reached his Panipat home in an army vehicle on Friday morning.

At Colonel Manpreet Singh’s house in Mullanpur, there was a steady stream of mourners. His mother was seen waiting at the doorstep for her son’s body. A second-generation soldier, Colonel Singh leaves behind his mother, wife, a six-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son.

Major Dhonchak’s family includes his wife, a two-year-old daughter and three sisters. It is learnt that the family had planned to shift to a new house in Panipat in October. The family had been living in a rented accommodation.

The army officers and a deputy superintendent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police died fighting terrorists in the higher reaches of Kokernag in Anantnag district. Colonel Singh, the commanding officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Major Dhonchak, who was also posted in the same battalion, and deputy superintendent of police Humayun Bhat were critically injured in the gunfight that ensued in the Garol area of Anantnag district in the morning hours of Wednesday. The officers succumbed to injuries during treatment.

The last rites of DSP Bhat were performed in Budgam on Wednesday evening.