Pahalgam terror attack: Victims from State cremated with police honours

Bengaluru/Shivamogga: Members from various walks of life joined the families in mourning the two terror victims from Karnataka who were cremated on Thursday amid a charged atmosphere where slogans denouncing Pakistan were raised. The two victims, Manjunath Rao and Bharath Bushan were among the 26 people killed in front of their families after confirming their religious identity in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday.

Most of those killed by terrorists were tourists. The two the slain men were cremated with police honours on Thursday. While Manjunath’s last rites were performed in Shivamogga, Bhushan’s cremation was held in Bengaluru.

Ministers, political leaders, government officials including police officers and activists joined the family members of the deceased to send the departed soul with honour in their final journey.

The family members were inconsolable as the pyre was lit. The crowd present there shouted slogans hailing India and condemning Pakistan for allegedly sponsoring terrorism in the country.

Speaking to reporters, Manjunath’s wife Pallavi said the perpetrators of the April 22 terror attack should be punished in a way that it should send a chill to others involved in such heinous crimes.

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, who travelled back with the families, recounted Pallavi, Manjunath’s wife, clutching his bloodstained jacket as a keepsake, and Bharat Bhushan’s three-year-old son innocently pointing at planes, unaware of his father’s loss.

Tejasvi Surya, alongside Union Minister of State for Railways V Somanna, paid tributes at the airport, joined by grieving relatives. Somanna denounced the attack, vowing, “Those responsible will face the full might of our government.”