A dastardly act of terror in the Pulwama district of South Kashmir led to the death of 49 CRPF personnel on February 14 and in the aftermath of the tragic incident, Virat Kohli has postponed the Indian Sports Honours award ceremony.
The event was originally supposed to be held on February 16 where sports teams and players across various sports played in the country would be honoured. This was slated to be the second edition of the awards after its successful inaugural edition in 2017. This initiative was urged into existence and subsequent prominence by the skipper of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli. The 30-year-old has been very vocal about his wish to make India a sporting nation where players across multiple disciplines in various sports are encouraged and their matches are watched by a large number of fans.
But Kohli announced on Friday that the event will be postponed as a mark of respect for the martyred soldiers.
The RP-SG Indian Sports Honours has been postponed. At this heavy moment of loss that we all find ourselves in, we would like to cancel this event that was scheduled to take place tomorrow.
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) February 15, 2019
The attack took place around 3:15 PM on Thursday when a 'suicide bomber' belonging to the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terror outfit rammed an explosive-laden SUV into a bus carrying CRPF troopers in Lethpora area of Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway, officials said. All soldiers in the bus that was attacked with 350 kilograms of explosives succumbed to the blast and as many as 38 soldiers were wounded.
The attack was carried out by a 22-year-old suicide bomber named Adil Ahmad Dar who a resident of Kakapora village in Pulwama.
In the aftermath of the incident, India has revoked the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status that it had earlier given to Pakistan. This came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 15. In the same meeting, the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria was called back from Islamabad by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He will be heading to the national capital of Delhi for consultation regarding diplomatic actions over the matter.
In order to financially aid the families of the martyred soldiers, the 'Bharat Ke Veer' website has started an initiative where Indian citizens and even NRIs can contribute up to Rs 15 lakh. 'Bharat Ke Veer' is a government platform that was started in 2017 in order to help the soldiers.
The revised date of Indian Sports Honours is yet to be announced but it seems likely that the event will only be held after March 13 following the conclusion of the home series between India and Australia.
