M A I N   N E W S

Sarabjit gets a hero’s send-off
Perneet Singh/TNS

Bhikhiwind (Tarn Taran), May 3
Thousands bade a tearful adieu to Sarabjit Singh who was cremated with full state honours at his native village in Tarn Taran today. Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur, who valiantly fought a long battle to get her brother released from a Pakistan jail, lit the funeral pyre.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, state Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar and Punjab BJP chief Kamal Sharma were among those who attended the funeral. The funeral procession started around 1.15 pm from a government school where the body had been kept for people to pay their last respect.

The body was taken to the cremation ground through the dusty lanes of the village in a flower-bedecked van around 2 pm. His family members - sister Dalbir Kaur, wife Sukhpreet Kaur and daughters Swapandeep and Poonam - accompanied the body placed in a coffin and draped in the Tricolour.

At the cremation ground, the body was first placed on a platform along with Sarabjit’s photograph bearing an inscription, ‘Shaheed Sarabjit Singh Amar Rahe’. It was later taken to the funeral pyre.

Badal led the political leaders in laying the wreath on Sarabjit’s body. Sarabjit’s “antim ardaas” was performed in the presence of Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh. Rahul Gandhi spent half an hour with the bereaved family and offered his condolences to Dalbir Kaur.