Army men give the guard of honour to Major Shikhar Thapa, who was killed in a fratricide incident in the Uri sector of Kashmir. Photo: Kamaljeet
Wife of Major Shikhar Thapa inconsolable in her house at Dari near Dharamsala on Wednesday. Photo: Kamaljeet
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, July 19
Major Shikhar Thapa, who was killed in a fratricide incident in the Uri sector of Kashmir yesterday, was cremated with full military honours at his native place Dari today.The cremation was attended by Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Technical Education GS Bali, senior Congress leader and president of state ex-servicemen league Vijai Singh Mankotia and former minister and senior BJP leader from Dharamsala Kishan Kapoor. The local Congress MLA and Minister for Urban Development Sudhir Sharma was not present.The friends who had gathered on the occasion remembered Major Thapa as a quiet but gentle person.Arvind Kumar, father of Major Thapa, who is also an ex-serviceman and retired teacher, was composed. Serving in the Army was a tradition in the family of Major Thapa.
Major Thapa cremated with military honours
DHARAMSHALA : In the griefstricken hill town of Dharamshala, a steady stream of hundreds of mourning residents bid a tearful adieu to Major Shikhar Thapa, 29, who was allegedly killed by a jawan after being rebuked over using his mobile phone on forward position.
When Major Thapa’s body, draped in the tricolour, was brought for the last rites, a pall of gloom descended on the locality.
Major Thapa was a 71 Armoured Regiment officer, but was attached to the counter-insurgency unit 8 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) close to the Line of Control in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Singh’s body was taken by pall bearers in the afternoon to the town crematorium, where he was consigned to the flames with full military honours. Breaking tradition, a large number of women, including the Major’s wife Suvidha and mother Poonam, came to the cremation ground.
Kangra deputy commissioner CP Verma and additional superintendent of police Gaurav Singh laid wreaths on behalf of the state government.
Transport minister GS Bali and former ministers Vijai Singh Mankotia and Kishan Kapoor also paid tributes to the slain officer. Major Thapa is survived by his father Arvind Thapa, 58, a retired soldier, mother Poonam, 55, wife Suvidha Thapa, 29, and a three-month-old son Suvir.