Nirmal Khanna, wife of Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna, who was killed in 1990 by the separatist Yasin Malik, hailed the inclusion of her husband's name in the National War Memorial in Delhi.
She thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Indian Air Force (IAF) for acknowledging it as a real tribute to the Squadron Leader and said that now she feels accepted as the "daughter of India".
"What else can a soldier long for? When a soldier wears a uniform, he knows it's a coffin. I am thankful to the Indian Air Force and 130 crore Indians. Now, I feel accepted as a daughter of India. I had to fight for War Widows Pension for long. But as good citizens, we should first know our duties and then take our rights," Nirmal Khanna told .
She continued, "I honour the decision and thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. I have unfailingly struggled for 29 years."
The IAF has engraved the name of Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna on the National War Memorial in Delhi.
"The name of Squadron Leader Khanna has been included on the National War Memorial after the Air Headquarters cleared the case in this regard," IAF sources said.
The decision was taken in the last week of September by the Air Force.
The names of personnel killed in action are provided by the respective services to the National War Memorial and they are then put up on the walls there along with the detail of action in which they had laid down their lives.
On January 25, 1990, four IAF personnel, including Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna, were killed in firing by JKLF terrorists.
The names of the other three personnel killed that day have already been included in the list of IAF soldiers killed in action but somehow his name was not included.
Yasin Malik who heads a banned faction named Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is accused of being involved in the killing of four Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel - including Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna - in Kashmir, in 1990.
Malik was charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before the TADA court in Jammu on August 31, 1990, in connection with the case.
Malik, who has been arrested in a terror funding case by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) and currently lodged in Tihar Jail, would be produced in the special court through video conferencing on October 23.
( With inputs from ANI )