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| February 24, 2007 | Saturday | Safar 6, 1428 |
List of Pakistanis killed in train not received: Rashid
ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told the National Assembly on Friday that India had not yet sent a list of Pakistanis from the 68 people that were killed in the firebombing of the Samjhota Express and that protests were being made to New Delhi about the travel conditions on that train.
Making a statement in the house after the issue was discussed in what he called a "mini-cabinet meeting" chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, he said India would have raised a hue and cry if such an incident had happened in Pakistan and a list of the dead had not been provided to New Delhi after so many days.
The minister said: "Until now, no list of our dead has arrived here."
Referring to what he called passenger coaches of the train being turned into virtual cages by locking them up that prevented the passengers to escape after the blasts, he said: "More protests are being made about it".
PML-N member Khwaja Mohammad Asif said the events following the train disaster near Panipat had showed an "utter failure" of the present government's foreign policy.
He said a Pakistani girl was stopped from travelling back home and was taken for interrogation, and added: "There can be no worse humiliating aspect of our foreign policy".
Meanwhile, foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the list was necessary to help identify Pakistani nationals among the 35 remaining bodies following Sunday night's attack.
“We find it extremely intriguing and frustrating that India has not shared the complete list of passengers with us,” Aslam told AFP.
She said the Pakistani government was under pressure from Pakistani people whose relatives are still unaccounted for. The passengers were mostly Pakistani Muslims travelling home after visiting relatives in India.
“What we can do for our citizens depends on the kind of cooperation we receive from India -- and we really do not know why they are not sharing it with us,” Aslam added.
India says 33 of the 68 dead have been identified. Twenty-seven of these are Pakistani nationals of whom 21 bodies have now been handed over to relatives, while many of the others are said to be charred or mutilated.
Indian authorities have arranged a mass funeral on Saturday for 30 rapidly decomposing bodies.
A senior Pakistan Railways official said the railways ministry and the foreign office had taken up the issue with the Indian authorities but there had been no response.—AFP
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