New Delhi: "Mei kya ous khatah (what was my fault)," sobbed the distraught mother of an SPO and his brother slain by militants as their remains were returned to their family in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district on Sunday.
A big crowd gathered at their house in the Chadbugh neighbourhood to bid the brothers farewell, news agency PTI reported.
"What was my fault? What was my fault?" the grieving mother asked as women tried to console her.
"They should have shot me in the heart... Where will I find my sons now?" she said.
Militants broke into the police family's Budgam house on Saturday evening, killing Special Police Officer (SPO) Ishfaq Ahmad Dar and badly injuring his brother, Umar Ahmad.
This morning, Umar Ahmad died in the hospital.
As the remains arrived at their house in Chadbugh, heartbreaking sights were witnessed. Men and women, young and old, could not hold back their emotions and wept.
Women poured flowers and toffees on the coffins of the two as they were carried to their final resting place at their family graveyard.
Top police officers, including Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar, paid a visit to the family's home and extended their sympathies.
According to a tweet from the Kashmir Zone Police, Kumar stated that the whole police family was with the grieving family.
Earlier, a wreath-laying ceremony for the murdered SPO was held at the District Police Lines in Budgam, with the deputy commissioner and senior superintendent of police leading police officers in floral tributes to him.
While extending condolences to the family, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti stated that death and destruction had become the norm in the Kashmir Valley.
"In Kashmir, we watch helplessly as young lives are snuffed out. Death & destruction have become the norm. Sadly GOI doesn't seem to care since Kashmiri lives have little value for them. Deepest condolences to the family," she tweeted.
CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami condemned the deaths, calling them terrible and barbaric, and demanding that the culprits be identified and brought to justice.
It has sent shockwaves across the region, and everyone is in agony and grief, he added.
(With PTI Inputs)