Thousands of villagers and officers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) bid a final adieu to Constable Roshan Lal,who was killed in the Taliban attack in Kabul on Friday. Wrapped in the tricolour,his body reached his native Dentha village in Chawari subdivision of Chamba district on Sunday morning and was consigned to the flames in the afternoon with full state honours. The local police presented a guard of honour in the presence of senior officers of the ITBP and the district police. As Roshan Lals nephew lit the pyre,his three-year-old son Ashish looked on. Roshan had adopted Ashish three years ago,14 years after his marriage to Nisha (32). He had big dreams for his son. He was thinking of taking a voluntary retirement from the ITBP after two years,to come back and serve somewhere in his home state so that he could see the upbringing of his son, said Raj Kumar,his brother who had retired from the Indian Army a few years ago as subedar. An inconsolable Nisha is yet to come to terms with the fact that her husband,who was to arrive from Kabul on Saturday evening,is no more. So are his parents,whom people could be seen trying to console,saying their son had laid down his life for the country. Roshan was to return home on Saturday after serving one and a half years in Kabul. ITBP officers told the family that the attack took place two hours before he was to board his flight to Delhi on Friday. The bullet that hit him on the left side of the chest had pierced through an ATM card and his PAN card,which were handed over to the family members. Roshan Lal had studied at the local primary school at Dugh and Government High School,Tundi. After completing his matriculation,he had joined the ITBP in 1992. He was posted at the India Consulate at Kabul and was the special security guard of the Indian ambassador.
