Families of men killed in Pahalgam wholeheartedly welcome Operation Sindoor.
Published May 07, 2025 | 3:00 PM ⚊ Updated May 07, 2025 | 4:31 PM
Manjunath's mother Sumathi said her family was expecting Prime Minister Modi to take action against the terrorist attack.
Synopsis: Families of two Karnataka men killed in the terror strike in Kashmir welcomed India’s retaliation, codenamed Operation Sindoor.
Remember the photograph? The image of a young woman sitting beside her husband’s body in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam?
She, Himanshi Narwal, was widowed in six days. She was not the only one to grieve due to an act of cowardice. There were 25 — this figure is relevant — other families in India and Nepal. She was on honeymoon to Jammu and Kashmir.
Notably, there were no public displays of emotions. Himanshi wept silently, so did Arathi, daughter of N Ramachandran in Kochi, Kerala, who died despite having nothing to do with the terrorists, or their cause.
There was anger. Those who saw Himanshi, helpless and alone on 22 April, silently rose, with unbearable simmering anger, in support. The anger was palpable, but silent.
Himanshi had then, even in grief, won a multitude of brothers and sisters across the country.
On Wednesday, two women, Colonel Sophia Quershi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, told the world the details of Operation Sindoor, India unleashing her anger.
The world listened to them in rapt attention, as they, stone-faced, detailed India’s attack on terror infrastructure inside Pakistan. They gave a figure: 25 minutes were all it took for India on 7 May to hit Pakistan.
The message was clear: The blood and tears shed would not go waste. Each drop will be accounted for.
Much before the officers, Colonel Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh, came on air, Preetham Chennaveerappa was glued to the television set as the news came pouring in.
“We stand with the government’s decision, and I think they have taken this decision after studying the situation there,” he said about India’s past midnight air strike on Pakistan.
“We have been watching the news since 6 am today and got to see that the government has destroyed the terrorist camps,” Chennaveerappa’s brother, Bharath Bhushan was one among those killed in Pahalgam.
“The government has taken good steps to eliminate them. Because if not now, then the terrorists might have attacked other civilians in the future,” he said.
It was not easy for the family. “We are yet to recover from the loss of my brother to the terrorist attack. His child has not been informed about his father’s death because he is just three years old. For now, we don’t want to talk about the incident to him.”
Growing up, he will come to know of Colonel Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh — and India’s military might.
In Shivamogga, Sumathi knew it was coming. Her son Manjunath Rao was one of the victims in Pahalgam. .
“Our family was expecting Prime Minister Modi to take action against this terrorist attack. My son’s life has not gone in vain. They have taken the right steps against terrorists who killed many other innocent people like my son.”
Bharath Bhushan was in Jammu and Kashmir with his wife Sujatha and three year old son, when he — unarmed — was gunned down. Manjunath was with his wife Pallavi and son.
All the men were unarmed when gunned down. At 1.05 am on Wednesday, India rained guided precision ammunition Hammer and SCALP cruise missiles on nine locations in Pakistan, including Bahawalpur and Muridke, the strongholds of terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, respectively.
At the dead of the night, revenge was served cold. And, India called it Operation Sindoor, and aptly fielded two women officers to tell the world, “We did it!”
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
