Slain Pune jawan’s father wants concrete steps to save precious lives

Farate’s mortal remains will be brought to Pune by Sunday night via a civilian flight and will be kept at the Military Hospital in Khadki till Monday morning. His last rites are expected to be performed around 8.30 am on Monday, defence officials said. Till late Sunday, his mother was not informed about the death of her son and was told that her son just received a bullet injury.

According to his family members, Farate had spoken to his mother over the phone on Saturday morning as she was worried about the repeated attacks in the Kashmir Valley, but Farate told her not to worry. Speaking to the reporters, his father Nandkumar Farate said, “I have lost my son today. Tomorrow some other family would lose their son. How long is it going to continue? It is painful to see the government not taking any concrete steps to teach our enemies a lesson. When will politicians understand the pain of families like us?”

Farate had joined the Army in 2004 and liked boxing, among other sports. His father-in-law Manohar Bhole said, “He was more of a son to me. He had come on a two-month leave and had celebrated the first birthday of his twin daughters on October 24. He joined back his duty over a week ago. He was very down to earth and was always ready to help others. We condemn the terror attack and demand some concrete action by the government. It is painful to see precious lives being lost almost everyday. We don’t know how will we be able to deal with his shock.”

NCP chief Sharad Pawar met the slain soldier’s father in Phursungi on Sunday evening. Flex boards paying tributes to Farate were put up at various places in Hadapsar on Sunday. Mortal remains of all the three the solders — Farate, Gunner C Ratheesh of Kannur in Kerala and Gunner Shashikant Pandey of Dhanbad in Jharkhand — were flown to Delhi on Sunday morning and are now en route to their respective native places.