NEW DELHI, Nov 18:
The mortal remains of former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha were consigned to flames here with a large number of mourners including BJP patriarch L K Advani and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh paying their tributes.
The funeral pyre was lit by Y K Sinha, son of the 92-year-old Sinha, as buglers sounded the ‘Last Post’ for the decorated former military officer at the cremation ground in Delhi Cantonment.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad and some State politicians paid their tributes to Sinha, who died here yesterday after being hospitalised for over a fortnight.
Survived by his wife, son Y K Sinha, an Indian Foreign Service officer, who was Ambassador to Sri Lanka and going to take over a High Commissioner the UK, and three daughters, Sinha had also served as Governor of Assam and Ambassador to Nepal.
After joining Army in 1943, Sinha resigned from service in 1983 after the then Government superseded him and appointed General A S Vaidya as the new Army chief.
He tried his luck in politics by contesting Patna Lok Sabha seat in 1984 but lost.
Sinha, who had led the first batch of Indian troops when Pakistani raiders attacked Kashmir in 1947, was appointed as Secretary to the Indian delegation for a conference convened by the UN to delineate the ceasefire line in Kashmir which came into effect from January 1, 1949.
Meanwhile, the officers and staff of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board have condoled the demise of Lt. Gen. (Retd) S. K. Sinha, who was the former Chairman of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.
In this connection, a condolence meeting was held at Central Office, Katra today in which officers and staff in large number participated.
A two-minute silence was observed to pay homage to the departed soul.
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