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| February 23, 2007 | Friday | Safar 5, 1428 |
Absence of passport adds to man’s agony: Search for missing train passengers
NAWABSHAH, Feb 22: Akbar Khan whose three family members have been missing since the Samjhota Express tragedy has appealed to the president and prime minister to direct the authorities to urgently issue him a passport so that he can travel to Panipat, India to identify his relatives among the dead.
Mr Khan’s father, Abdul Aziz Khan, mother Razia Begum and elder brother Abdul Majeed Khan were among the passengers of the ill-fated train.
He told Dawn on Thursday that his cousins Latif and Taufeeq in Panipat had asked him to reach there immediately as the authorities needed DNA samples for identification and would bury the bodies in a day or so.
He rushed to Lahore to obtain some travel documents for Panipat but the authorities refused to issue him a visa in the absence of a passport, he said and added that he came back with his friend Mohammad Ameen to Sukkur and applied for an urgent passport.
They were given token numbers 104 and 105 respectively after a payment of Rs4,000 each, he said. He requested the officials to rush through the formalities and issue him passport on urgent basis but they replied that the process would take at least five days.
He said that his cousin Nadir Khan somehow managed to connect with Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on his mobile and requested him for help but so far he had received no response.
He said that his family members were in a pathetic condition and could not wait for five days and appealed to the president and prime minister to direct the authorities to urgently issue him a passport on humanitarian grounds.
Our Hyderabad correspondent adds: Death of one more Pakistani victim of Samjhota Express fire was confirmed on Thursday by his relatives in Hyderabad.
Octogenarian Habibullah was travelling alone by the ill-fated Attari-Wagah Samjohta Express. He had gone to Bhopal after 55 years to meet his in-laws.
His brother-in-law Mukhtiar saw him off at Delhi railway station where he boarded the ill-fated train in which 68 persons were killed in a fire that erupted in the train’s two bogies.
After the news of fire Mr Mukhtiar travelled from Bhopal to Panipat around 965 kilometres from there to identify the body and communicated the information at 2.30 am on Thursday to his family in Hashmi Colony, Hyderabad.
Late Habibullah used to run a provisions store. His family wanted to leave for India in search of their loved one but they had no valid passports for the journey.
Mohammad Asif, late Habibullah’s nephew, said that Mohammad Arshad, Habibullah’s son-in-law had gone by air to receive his body at Wagah border.
"I have just spoken to Arshad over phone when he was in Lahore near Wagah at 9 pm today but it is still not known whether the body has been handed over to him or not.
“There are no facilities for the people who have got there to receive bodies of their dear ones. My cousin is residing in a hotel and without any proper information by railway authorities or any other government functionary," said Mohammad Asif.
Earlier, the deaths of five of a family of Tasleem Khan were confirmed on the second day of incident. Tasleem was resident of Ilyasabad and had gone to see his relatives in Aligarh.
They had to travel to India a month ago through Lahore-Attari route because Khokhropar-Munabao rail link had been closed since August last year.
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