NEWS

More Pakistanis arrive in search of kin

By Santosh K Joy in Panipat
February 25, 2007 15:08 IST

Some more relatives of Pakistani victims of the Samjhauta Express blasts reached Panipat on Sunday to search for their kin, even as all unidentified bodies were buried in a nearby graveyard.

A week after two blasts on the Lahore-bound 'friendship train' claimed 68 lives, mostly Pakistanis, at least three persons crossed the border on Sunday to search for their relatives who are untraceable.

They could not cross over to India earlier because they had not got visas in time, they claimed.

Nineteen unidentified bodies of those killed in the blasts were buried in a graveyard in Mehrana village, five kilometres from Panipat, on Saturday, even as authorities maintained that they could be exhumed later if some relatives claimed them.

Mubashar Hasan, from Pakistan's Sargoda district, was in tears on Sunday on finding out that all the unclaimed bodies had been buried. He had arrived in search of his brother Mohammed Irfan.

"I feel guilty that I could not reach in time," Hasan told PTI.

Two other Pakistanis -- Mohammed Nadeem and Mohammed Ali -- also reached after the burials.

"We could not get visas in time," Nadeem said.

With the district administration shifting its temporary camp office from the Civil Hospital, voluntary organisations are receiving and helping the Pakistanis.

Santosh K Joy in Panipat
Source: PTI
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