Goodbye Papa! Dressed in Army uniform, Colonel Manpreet Singh’s 6-year-old son bids final salute to father

Since morning, there was a steady stream of mourners at Colonel Singh's house in Bharonjian village who joined his grief-stricken wife, mother and other family members in his last journey. During te mourning, an army officer was seen holding Kabir in his lap while the family and other people were bidding him last farewell. A relative was holding his two-year-old daughter Bunny in his lap.

Kabir was later seen clinging to his father's tricolor-draped coffin along with other family members. Just before the cremation, he paid obeisance to his father's mortal remains, after which slogans of 'Bharat Mata ke Saput ki Jai' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' echoed. Colonel Singh's last rites were performed with full military honours, including a floral tribute and a gun salute.

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, former Army Chief VP Malik, Punjab Government ministers Chetan Singh Jauramajra and Anmol Gagan Mann along with senior army and police officers were present and paid floral tributes to the martyr. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lieutenant General DP Vats (retd) was also present.

Some of his teachers also attended the funeral of Colonel Singh. “He was a diamond for us,” the heartbroken teachers said. He was also a diamond of the country. He had said that he would return in December." Describing Colonel Singh's Class-I teacher Asha Chadda as an extraordinary student, she said, "Today we are very sad but at the same time we are feeling proud to be the teachers of a martyr. Who has made the supreme sacrifice for the country.

The army officer awarded the Sena Medal is survived by two children, wife Jagmeet Kaur, mother Manjeet Kaur and brother Sandeep. Martyr's wife is a teacher in a government school in Panchkula, Haryana. Colonel Singh did his schooling from Mullanpur before graduating in commerce from a college in Chandigarh. After this he passed the Combined Defense Services Examination and joined the Indian Military Academy.

Major Ashish Dhochak, who was martyred in an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, was cremated with full military honors in Panipat, Haryana on Friday. Three army personnel, including Colonel Singh and Major Dhochak, and a Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police were martyred in an encounter with terrorists in Kokernag area of Kashmir Valley.