'Missed his 4am call, will regret for rest of life': Wife of Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar Sharma

PALWAL: It was 4am, and Seema was fast asleep when her husband, Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar Sharma, called her from Poonch. The 32-year-old, who is expecting the couple's third child, had had some medicines and didn't realise when her phone rang. The call went unanswered.

Later that day, the family found out that Dinesh was martyred.

"He called me around 4am before going for the retaliatory operation against Pakistan, but I missed his call due to pregnancy pills... That call will always haunt me," Seema, a district court lawyer in Haryana's Palwal, said.

Deployed on the frontlines in Poonch, Dinesh (32) was severely injured in shelling by Pakistani forces along the border on May 7. He was operated on but succumbed to injuries hours later.

It turned out, the soldier's family said, Dinesh was martyred on the same date that he had cleared the physical exam and was selected to join the Indian Army - May 7, in 2014.

While Dinesh was posted to Poonch, Seema and their two children - a 7-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son - stayed back at the family's home in Nagla Mohammadpur village in Palwal. Located along the Line of Control (LoC), Poonch has been one of the worst hit districts since ceasefire violations erupted in the aftermath of escalating conflict between India and Pakistan. Dinesh and 12 civilians were killed in shelling by Pakistan on May 7.

On Friday, Dinesh's family said Army officers had promised to install a statue of the fallen soldier in their Palwal village. "My son is waiting for his father's return. He is too young to understand that Dinesh will never return. He called Dinesh on Friday morning too. No one answered... My daughter has lost her smile," Seema said, a day after the soldier was cremated in his village with full state honours and 21-gun salute.

Dinesh's father Daya Chand told TOI his eldest son had cleared Class 10 when he declared to the family that he will join the Indian Army.