Parwinder SandhuNew Delhi, Jan. 10 -- Their love story began in a school corridor, where they dreamt of a beautiful and everlasting future. But the fairytale ended with the echo of gunfire in a distant forest of Kashmir, which silenced their laughter and shattered the world they had imagined together.
On October 10, time stood still for Marifa Banoo of Mukdampora, Nowgam, when she received the news that her husband, Rifleman Hilal Ahmad Bhat of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles, had been killed in a counter-terrorist operation in the Sheikhpora forests. The couple had been married for nine years.
On Saturday, thousands of miles from home, in the national capital, Marifa stood not only as a grieving 'veer nari' but also as the custodian of a nation'...