Killed in Kabul blast, Ludhiana man leaves behind son he never saw

Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, February 8

“We were planning to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, but fate had something else in store for us. We are shattered,” says an inconsolable Shivani.

A resident of Mundian Kalan village in Ludhiana, Shivani lost her husband Sunny Singh (27) in a blast that took place in Kabul on Saturday. “He was excited to see our newborn for the first time. Before coming home, he wanted to earn some more money,” says Shivani.

She married Sunny, a small-time general merchant in Afghanistan, last February and gave birth to a boy in October.

Sunny had left for Afghanistan in August. Two other Afghan Sikhs — Sher Singh and Chucha Singh — sustained serious injuries in the attack that killed Sunny.

“I had lost my father when I was six months old and my son has been left without his father when he is merely three months old,” Shivani said.

Shivani has not eaten since she heard the tragic news.

Repenting the day Sunny decided to go to Kabul for greener pastures, Shivani says, “We have lost everything. What will money do when we don’t have him?”

The deceased was working hard to earn money, so that he could build a house in his village.

“I could not even see his face for the last time or attend his last rites,” rues Shivani, who watched Sunny’s final journey over a video call by her in-laws, who were staying with him in Kabul. Besides her own fate, she is worried about the health of her toddler as well, who has been undergoing treatment for a heart ailment since birth.