Brigadier LS Lidder's wife, daughter bid an emotional goodbye
The Brigadier, LS Lidder, who was a top aide to Gen Rawat, had been approved for promotion to Major General.
Total Views |
New Delhi, Dec 10: Emotional and heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed as Brigadier Lakhwinder Singh Lidder's wife, Geetika Lidder, and daughter, Aashna Lidder, said goodbye to him this morning at Delhi's Brar Square Crematorium.
The emotional wife and daughter were seen mourning in the video shared by news agency. Mrs Lidder who was in tears knelt by the head of her husband's coffin that was draped with the national flag and decked with flowers. The daughter, Aashna Lidder, was by her mother's side, fighting back tears of her own as she let a handful of rose petals fall through her fingers and on to her father's coffin.
Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NSA Ajit Doval and Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar paid their respects. Apart from them, a long line of military officials, including the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force, also paid tribute, marching in stoic sequence to lay a wreath at his feet.
Brigadier Lidder, 52, was one of the 13 who passed away in IAF horrific chopper crash in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri Hills. The crash also claimed the lives of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife, Madhulika Rawat, and 10 other Air Force personnel.
The Brigadier, who was a top aide to Gen Rawat, had been approved for promotion to Major General, and was due to take command of a division, when he and the others boarded the ill-fated Mi17-V5.
Notably, he was commissioned in to the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles (JAK RIF) in December 1990 and served as Gen Rawat's DA, or Defence Assistant, since January. He has also commanded a brigade in the northern borders, was a DA in Kazakhstan and led his battalion in the Congo as part of the United Nations' Peacekeeping Force, and was a Director at the Military Operations Directorate.
At 4 pm, also at Brar Square Crematorium, Gen Bipin Rawat will be laid to rest. At present the bodies of the General and wife are in state at their Delhi home, for the public to pay final respects.