Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal (left) expresses his condolences in Jalandhar to the family of SP Baljit Singh, who was killed in the July 27 police station attack in Gurdaspur.

IANS/Kapurthala

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday met the family of police officer Baljit Singh who died fighting terrorists and assured of all possible help to them.
He also met the families of three home guard personnel and three civilians who died in the terrorist attack in Dinanagar in Gurdaspur district on Monday morning.
“The country is proud of the martyred policemen who sacrificed their lives to save the lives of others,” Badal told reporters, referring to the officer and three home guards who too were killed by the terrorists.
Superintendent Baljit Singh, 48, was the most senior officer to die in the terror attack.
Badal said the SP’s family should feel proud and honoured as he attained martyrdom rather than dying an ordinary death.
“It’s a huge loss, I understand. But instead of grieving his demise, you should feel proud of his martyrdom as he saved thousands of innocent lives in the country by laying down his life for a greater cause,” an official statement quoting Badal said.
The chief minister was in Kapurthala, 180km from state capital Chandigarh, to meet the family of Baljit Singh, which demanded government jobs for his three children on compassionate grounds.
He assured the family that the state government was duty bound to help them in this hour of crisis and every step would be taken to extend a helping hand to the family.
“I will fulfil my responsibility as the chief minister,” Badal said when asked about the jobs to the next of kin of the slain police officer.
He said the family didn’t raise any issue with him regarding jobs.
Appreciating the Punjab Police for tackling the terror attack efficaciously, Badal said the police showed that it was fully capable to deal with such a situation at any time.
“The army and paramilitary forces are meant for some bigger operations. In case the situation warranted their involvement, the state government would not have hesitated to hand over the command of counter-terror operation to the army, he said.
The chief minister said Punjab had since long remained a peaceful state as no such untoward incident had taken place in the recent past.
However, Badal said, this operation had given an opportunity to reassess the situation and overcome our weaknesses and follies, if any.
Earlier, the family of Baljit Singh refused to cremate his body, demanding appointment of his son as superintendent of police and his two daughters as naib tehsildars (revenue officials).
Baljit Singh, who headed the detective branch of police in Gurdaspur, was cremated with state honours here.
The government has announced a compensation of Rs1mn each to the families of the officer and the three deceased home guards and Rs500,000 each to the families of the civilians who died.
Later, Badal visited the families of home guards Des Raj, Bodh Raj and Sukhdev Singh, who attained martyrdom along with Baljit Singh, and also the families of deceased civilians Amarjit Singh, Nirmala Devi and Ghulam Rasul in different parts of Gurdaspur district.
Union minister of state Vijay Sampla also visited the family of Baljit Singh.