‘It was supposed to happen; we are happy’

Kolkata: “My dead husband’s soul would now find some solace,” sobbed Sohini Adhikari, widow of slain techie Bitan Adhikari.

Sohini on Wednesday wept remembering her husband who was killed in a terror attack in Pahalgam. She also consoled herself by saying to herself: A lethal retaliation by Indian armed forces against terrorists in the name of Operation Sindoor took place deep inside Pakistan and also PoK.

Sohini along with her US based techie husband Bitan Adhikari and their 3-year-old son were on a vacation in Jammu and Kashmir.

She had returned home carrying her husband’s coffin. She also stated that the Armed forces retaliation is apt and adequate. Another survivor, Sarbori Guha whose 52-year-old husband Sameer Guha met a similar fate, described Indian armed forces’ retaliation as expected. She had witnessed how her husband fell to the terrorists’ bullets.

She had later narrated a heart wrenching ordeal how her husband was shot dead along with a foreigner at the same time as the terrorists had told Sarbori to “inform Modi (Modi ko bolo). “Pakistan needs to be taught a lesson. It was supposed to happen,” she added. Sabur Ali Shaikh, the father of Jhantu Ali Shaikh, an Army jawan who laid down his life in Pahalgam attack on Wednesday said: “We are happy to see the prompt reply by India. All the Indian Army personnel are like my sons.” Jhantu’s elder brother said: “I am so happy that India dismantled terror camps. I said earlier that the Indian Army will retaliate and take revenge for the death of our tourists.”

The family members of the Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Purnam Kumar Sahu, who was apprehended by Pakistani forces from the international border in Punjab on April 23, expressed apprehension over his release after the Indian armed forces retaliated and dismantled terror hideouts in Pakistan and PoK.