POKHARA, July 16: The joy of the Pun family at Lamachaur, Kaski district knew no bounds when the eldest son got recruited by the British Gurkhas some 15 years ago. But the whole village is now in a state of shock following the killing of Arjun Purja by a renegade Afghan soldier in the Taliban heartland of Helmand in Afghanistan, Tuesday.
Khin Maya, now 60, was over the moon when her son landed such a lucrative job at an early age. But she has had just a single sentence on her lips ever since she heard that the 34-year-old was brutally killed in Afghanistan. “Please come to me calling out to your mama, my son,” she has been uttering, without eating anything for the past three days.
Like Khin Maya, the whole family including 86-year-old granny Baisara has had no food and sleep, and Yam Bahadur breaks into sobs while relating the tragic fate of his son. Khim Devi has rushed to her parental home after hearing about the death of her kid brother while his younger sister Sushila has been sobbing inconsolably.
“A relative called from London on Tuesday while we were at home together, saying there was bad news about Arjun,” Yam Bahadur recalls with misty eyes. “We couldn´t believe our ears at first,” he adds.
He then called his younger brother in London, hoping against hope that the bad news was not true. But the younger brother confirmed the news and said he was trying to get the details.
The parents passed out on hearing this. Two British Welfare employees turned up in the evening to officially confirm the tragedy. “The duo confirmed the news and I have not been able to console his mother, who has just a single sentence on her lips,” Yam Bahadur adds.
Arjun has a nine-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son from his 12 years of marriage to a woman from Sikhgaun in Myagdi. He had been living with his family in London while his younger brother, Dhan Kaji, shifted to Pokhara seven years ago along with the parents.
The parents returned to their ancestral home in Lamachaur four years ago after Dhan Kaji settled in Hong Kong. The old couple was far away from their sons but their daughters were at hand to comfort their parents despite having been married off.
“We had hoped that our son would return again on holidays but his visit two years ago has turned out to be his last,” says the devastated father.
The whole village is mourning the tragic death of its brave son but will not get to take part in the funeral procession as Arjun is to be cremated in England.
“His wife, children and in-laws are all in England. So, we have decided not to bring the body back to Nepal,” the father explains. “The (British) Welfare people say they would make arrangements for the parents and a few close relatives to fly to England for the funeral,” he adds.
The desolate father remembers his son as someone simple and innocent, who would not stray through bad company, and wants to know why his innocent son and two colleagues were brutally killed. But he will probably not get to know the real motive of the killer, who has reportedly turned himself in to the Taliban following the killings.
Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=21061
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