Paramjit Kaur wants an eye for an eye, or ten heads for a head. After forcing officials to let her see the beheaded and mutilated body of her husband, Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh, the mother of three said, “Prime Minister Modi had said that for every Indian soldier who was beheaded, we would bring 10 heads of Pakistani soldiers. We first want 10 Pakistani heads.”
The village of Vain Poin in the border district of Tarn Taran share her grief. The government should give a befitting reply, said the villagers, raising anti-Pakistan slogans. In half a dozen places in Punjab, Pakistani flags were set ablaze. Congress legislator Ramanjit Singh Sikki said it was “raw anger on display”.
Paramjit Singh was to come home in mid-May, finish the work on his new house and shift his family there. People paid their last respects to the soldier right in that house.
It was Paramjit Singh’s father, Udham Singh, who ensured that the angry widow and mourners did not delay the cremation. “I am proud of Paramjit Singh,” said the father, quickly adding that the government should give Pakistan a befitting reply.
The villagers of Tikenpur in Deoria in eastern Uttar Pradesh, also want revenge. They have just cremated BSF trooper Prem Sagar. “I am proud of my husband. He is a martyr. We, too, should pay back in the same manner,” said his wife Gyanwati Devi. His daughter Saroj was inconsolable and she wanted revenge. “For one soldier killed by Pakistan we should get 50 heads,” she said.
The villagers were so upset that they initially refused to cremate the body. They wanted the chief minister to come to the village. Sensing the mood, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke to the members of the family and promised to build a memorial for Sagar.
