18 February 2004	Wednesday	26 Zilhaj 1424

WASHINGTON, Feb 17: The current environment of peace between India and Pakistan is also having a positive impact on the citizens of the two countries living in the United States.

Recently, a US-based Pakistani charity helped an Indian girl get an artificial limb. Seven-year-old Akhila from Kerala had lost her right hand in an accident three years ago.

Doctors had warned her parents that she could develop permanent problems in limb movement unless she was treated immediately. Her father B.S. Buhari, a teacher, knocked on many doors for help. The Non-Resident Keralites Association took up her case and brought her to the US for treatment.

In Houston, Texas, where Akhila was brought for surgery, the association sought help from various charity organisations to help restore Akhila's hand. A Houston-based Pakistani charity organisation, the House of Charity, offered to help and promised to foot all her bills. It has already spent Rs2.5 million.

Meanwhile, Akhila started writing with her left hand and stood second in an all-India scholarship examination. After three months of treatment, Akhila is back home from Houston with an artificial limb.

Doctors say she can now lead a normal life. Last year, Indians helped a Pakistani girl, Noor, undergo a heart surgery in Bangalore.