The bodies of the soldiers martyred in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which were brought to Delhi on Friday evening have started reaching their respective hometowns. Huge crowd have gathered to pay respect to the soldiers. As the coffins arrived, people stood on the roads holding flowers and national flags in teir hands and with tears in their eyes.
At Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, the family members of Ajit Kumar Azad was received his body at around 7 am. The 35-year-old, who is survived by a wife and two daughters, was fondly remembered by everyone. Neighbours and people from Unnao had gathered to express their unanimity with the family.
In Varanasi too, people had gathered to pay tribute to CRPF jawan Ramesh Yadav, whose body was brought to his native village Tofapur in Varanasi around 8:30 am. With national flags in their hands people had prayed for the fallen soldier.
The body of CRPF personnel Rohitash Lamba was also brought to his home in Govindpura in Jaipur at around 8:40 am. In the emotional time, native people were united with the soldier's family.
Shock, grief and outrage have enveloped the country after the deadly attack on Thursday in which a terrorist rammed his car which was heavily ladden with explosives, into the buses in a security convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned that all those who are responsible for the attack had made a "big mistake" and would pay a "very heavy price". In his hard-hitting comments at an official event, PM Modi said that the security forces have been given a free hand to act against terror.