May 30 :     As teammates vowed revenge for Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja?s ?cold-blooded murder? by Pakistani troops, his five-year-old son lit his pyre at a village near Bhatinda a week after the officer?s 36th birthday. A post mortem report established that Sq. Ldr Ahuja had been shot dead. Pakistan has been claiming the officer died when his MiG 21 crashed after being hit by a missile. Air Vice-Marshal S.K. Malik described the killing as an ?act of cowardice? and said the dead pilot?s teammates ?are now even more determined to avenge his death and carry out attacks? against the Pakistan-backed infiltrators. He said the officer was killed after he ejected and landed on the Pakistani side, a charge Islamabad denied. ?The Indian claim is false, malicious, concocted and a move to mislead public opinion,? an Inter Services public relations officer said. Pakistani foreign minister Sartaj Aziz said his country was willing to work for defusing tension but would not apologise for shooting down the Indian fighter aircraft. India summoned Pakistani deputy high commissioner Akbar Zeb today to lodge a strong protest against the ?brutal shooting?. ?New Delhi expects that those who are guilty of shooting Ahuja in cold blood will be prosecuted by the government of Pakistan for murder and punished,? the envoy was told. Sq. Ldr Ahuja was shot twice, with one bullet going through his right ear and the other piercing his chest. The post mortem report showed ?a penetrating gunshot wound: entry near right ear, exit near the external orifice of left ear. Second gunshot wound: entry 2 cm medial to right nipple, exit near left iliac crest damaging internal viscera like liver, intestine and peritonium.? The officer was cremated with full military honours at Killa Nihalsinghwala village near the Bisiana air force base where he had been posted. His son, Ankush, lit the pyre in the scorching sun with help from relatives. The cremation ground was brimming over with air force personnel and villagers from the neighbourhood when the body was brought in on a flower-bedecked vehicle. Army personnel sounded the last post and reversed arms as a mark of respect to the officer, who was killed when he flew out to rescue a teammate stranded in Pakistani territory. Sq. Ldr Ahuja?s grieving parents and brother Vijay said they were proud he had sacrificed his life for the country. His widow, Alka, has not spoken since she heard of his death. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said a statue of the martyr would be installed at Bisiana Chowk and the government school at Killa Nihalsinghwala would be renamed after him. Badal had earlier gone to the airport to receive the body, flown in from Srinagar this morning. The body was taken to the Ahuja home at the air force base, where his family bid him goodbye for the last time. While there was gloom in Bhatinda, there was a glimmer of hope in Adampur where the family of the pilot Sq. Ldr Ahuja had set out to rescue awaited his release. Flight Lieutenant K. Nachiketa, who is being held as a prisoner of war by Pakistan, turned 26 today. His sister Sandhya and her husband Mukund left New Delhi for the Adampur air force base in Punjab, where her parents are staying. The sudden departure sparked speculation that the family was expecting Flt Lt Nachiketa to be released soon. Home minister L.K. Advani sent greetings to the pilot?s family on his birthday and wished him a speedy return.