Army jawan killed in S Sudan ambush cremated in Lucknow

Exactly a month before he was expected to arrive in Lucknow with his family to begin construction for their house on his plot in Ashiana area,where the family planned to settle after retirement,the mortal remains of Naib Subedar Shiv Kumar Pal 45 arrived here on Thursday. Pal,who was a junior commissioned officer with the Mahar hellip;

Exactly a month before he was expected to arrive in Lucknow with his family to begin construction for their house on his plot in Ashiana area,where the family planned to settle after retirement,the mortal remains of Naib Subedar Shiv Kumar Pal 45 arrived here on Thursday.

Pal,who was a junior commissioned officer with the Mahar regiment,was on Tuesday killed in an ambush in South Sudan where he was serving on a UN peacekeeping mission.

Like every year,Pals family was planning to celebrate their summer vacation together at their native place in Patti area of Pratapgarh district in May. Pal had gone to South Sudan in October last year and was scheduled to return on May 10.

His wife Madhu,who works with National Commission for Women on contractual basis,arrived in Lucknow for his last rites. She said he had called her on Monday saying that he was feeling homesick. When I asked him to come back,he replied he would come on May 10 when his tenure in Sudan gets over. We were planning to build our house in Lucknow and wanted to settle here after his retirement, she said.

On Tuesday she started getting calls from several numbers asking about her identity. One person wanted to speak to the elders in her family. She provided him the contact number of Pals elder brother Ashok Kumar,who was then informed about Pals demise.

Pals family members said Madhu had to be admitted to a hospital in Delhi after she heard the news. Pals wife and two children Sudhanshu 14 and Ankita 17 live in Delhi.

Pal was cremated at the Bhaisakund crematorium in the afternoon in the presence of senior army officials.

CM meets Pals kin

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UP CM Akhilesh Yadav paid a tribute to Shiv Kumar Pal at his brothers house in Alambagh Thursday morning. Yadav announced an aid of Rs 20 lakh each to the kin of the two jawans from UP who were killed in South Sudan. The other jawan,Heeralal,was from Bulandshahr.