Pulwama: Man collects soil from families of 40 slain to place it at Martyrs Column

To honour the martyrs who lost their lives in cowardly Pulwama attack in February 2019, a Karnataka based man has travelled to the houses of each of the 40 CRPF personnel to collect the soil and use in the construction of their memorial in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. Umesh Gopinath Jadhav had travelled 61,000 kilometres across the country to meet the bereaved families and was the guest at the CRPF's Lethpora camp on Friday.

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Urn placed at the Martyrs Column

The urn containing the soil collected from the places of the 40 martyrs was placed at the Martyrs Column during the wreath-laying ceremony at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) campus in the Lethpora camp to mark a year of the Pulwama attack, in which 40 personnel of the paramilitary force were killed.

"I am proud that I met all the families of Pulwama martyrs, and sought their blessings. Parents lost their son, wives lost their husbands, children lost their fathers, friends lost their friends. I collected soil from their houses & their cremation grounds", said Jadhav as quoted by ANI, in a bid to pay tribute to the martyrs.

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The CRPF Madadgaars which is a helpline unit that helps Kashmiri citizens in times of emergencies had taken to Twitter to voice out the story of the fitting tribute of Jadhav to the Pulwama martyrs.

Heinous Pulwama attack

On February 14, 2019, a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in the Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The attack resulted in the martyrdom of 40 CRPF personnel. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed. The main conspirators of the module have since then been terminated by the Army. 

The nation witnessed an outrage against the cowardly attack on the CRPF convoy after which Indian Air Force conducted airstrike at terror launchpads in Balakot, an area in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, killing close to 300 terrorists.

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