Anxiety on faces, prayers on lips as passengers' relatives wait for train at Wagah

Cambodian Times (ANI) Monday 19th February, 2007

Wagah Station (Pakistan)/ Panipat (India), Feb 19 : The absence of the list of the 66 people left dead in the twin blasts on the link train of the Lahore bound Samjhauta Express has left the families of the travelling passengers anxious at the Pakistani side of the Wagah station.

Unaware of what is stored for them, the families are curiously waiting for the train to arrive with anxious faces and prayers on their lips.

"We are just praying to Allah for my mother's safety, " said a young man who has arrived here in looking for his mother, but has no clue whether she is alive or dead.

Pakistan Railway Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, who also arrived at the Wagah station, demanded that India should hand over the list of the Pakistani passengers killed in the blasts as soon as possible.

"We hope that we should be informed immediately about the names and addresses of those died in the incident. We are running special trains, so that the relatives of the victims can travel after the list (of victims from Indian authrities) is received," Ahmad said.

"We can understand how worse the situation will take a turn once the train arrives, as cries and howls will break when they would find their kin dead," said Ismail who works as a potter here.

The passengers of the Delhi-bound Samjhauta Express are equally fearful.

"Yes, we are scared. My mother is accompanying me. Every step fears us. We feel like going back but we cannot return now. We pray to God for a safe journey," said Faisal, a young man who had arrived at Wagah from Karachi.

Not able to overcome the burden of anxiety, few of them sat in a corner and continuously offered their prayers with closed eyes.

Earlier in the afternoon, Pakistani officials visited the blast site, Deewana village, about 80 km from New Delhi.

"We had come to check the facts and figures of the incident, to see how many passengers are injured and if there were any Pakistani nationals in them. We also wanted to see if any of the dead bodies had been recognized. So far, four bodies have been identified. Also, the remaining 527 passengers have safely reached Atari station," said Mohabbat Afridi, Political Counselor in Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

At the morgue in Panipat, bodies were laid out on the floor in blue bags between huge slabs of melting ice. Officials said 30 of the bodies were charred beyond recognition and might never be identified.

Around half a dozen of the corpses were of children.

Close to a dozen people are being treated in Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, some of whom are in a critical state. Both the countries have opened up different help centres to help the relatives of the train's passengers to reach to their near ones.

In this regard External Affairs Ministry said it would facilitate visas urgently to Pakistani relatives of victims who wanted to visit.