New Delhi
27 February 2010
Commander-in-chief of the armed forces, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, on
Saturday laid a wreath at the coffins of the six Indians killed in Thursday's terror attacks
in Kabul.
The bodies were brought here by a special aircraft.
President Patil had returned here from a visit to Pune around the same time the aircraft
carrying the coffins, draped in the national flag, landed at the Air Force Station at Palam
here. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao attended the wreath-laying ceremony, too.
President Patil also spoke to the families and relatives of the victims.
All the six Indians killed in the attacks -- Major (Dr) Laishram Jyotin Singh of the Army
Medical Corps, Major Deepak Yadav of the Army Education Corps, Bhola Ram, Nawab
Khan, Nitish Chibber and Roshan Lal -- were given military honours.
Eight Indians injured in the Kabul attacks also were flown in by the special aircraft. They
were moved to the Army's Research and Referral Hospital here.
Earlier in the day, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan called Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh to express his condolences. He promised a full investigation of the
attacks.
Prime Minister Singh urged President Karzai to ensure full security for Indian nationals
in Afghanistan. The two leaders agreed to keep in touch with each other.
The US and France condemned the attacks. US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer
said the terrorists who targeted and murdered innocent people work against peace and
dialogue and offer nothing but bloodshed, violence, and chaos. He hailed India's
development work in Afghanistan.
The French Government assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of its complete
solidarity and reaffirmed its common determination to combat terrorism. "Against the
backdrop of the Mumbai and the more recent Pune attacks, France once again wishes to
share in the grief of India, in losing its citizens to such dastardly acts of terror," read a
statement from the French Embassy here.
Major (Dr) Laishram Jyotin Singh was tasked with training of local Afghan doctors at the
Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul, while Major Deepak Yadav taught English at the Afghan
Military Academy.
Nawab Khan was a Delhi-based tabla player, who was a part of a cultural troupe sent by
the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). Khan, his brother and nephew, who are
also musicians, had gone to Kabul to give performances.
Bhola Ram was a deputy general manager with the Power Grid Corporation of India, and
was on an official assignment in Kabul as project director at the Afghan Power Grid
Corporation. His body will be taken to Jammu on Sunday.
Nitish Chibber was a secretary at the Indian consulate in Kandahar.
Roshan Lal was an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) constable posted at the Indian
consulate in Herat. He was on leave and was transiting Kabul on his way here.
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