Punjab Jaswant's scars yet to heal after losing parents in Pak's aerial intrusion during Op Sindoor

Ferozepur, May 7 (PTI) The scorched car still stands parked in the courtyard. The locked house wears an eerie silence. Nearly a year after the drone explosion in Khai Pheme Ki village here shattered his family, memories of that horrifying night still haunt Jaswant Singh, the lone survivor who no longer stays there.
     On May 9 last year, Jaswant's parents Lakhwinder Singh (57) and Sukhwinder Kaur (50) were critically injured after debris from a Pakistan drone, intercepted mid-air by the Indian Army's air defence system, crashed into their house in the border village on the outskirts of Punjab's Ferozepur -- triggering an explosion.
     Sukhwinder died on May 12 during treatment, while Lakhwinder succumbed to injuries on July 1 -- after battling for life for around 50 days at a private hospital in Ludhiana.
     Jaswant, who was also injured in the incident, now lives with relatives at Wariam Singh Wala village in Mamdot block. Family members say the trauma of losing both parents in such a horrific manner still affects him deeply.
     The government had provided Rs 20 lakh compensation to Jaswant, the lone survivor in the family, while the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had also extended financial help of Rs 5 lakh.
     "Money cannot compensate for human life. Jaswant has been shattered after losing his parents. Whenever he goes near the house, the memories return," Gurbachan Singh, Jaswant's uncle told PTI on Thursday, adding that the state government should provide a job to Jaswant.
     During Operation Sindoor, the Indian armed forces carried out pre-dawn missile strikes on May 7 last year at nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base in Muridke in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
     Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10.
     The attempts were thwarted by the Indian forces, who in turn inflicted heavy damage to a number of key Pakistan military installations including air bases, air defence systems, command and control centres and radar sites.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)