February 25, 2007	Sunday	Safar 7, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: Federal Minister for Railways Shaikh Rashid Ahmad said on Saturday that non-cooperation on part of India in providing the list of passengers of the Samjhota Express to Pakistan and delay in investigation to determine the cause of the accident might affect bilateral relations.

He said Pakistan was willing to take steps to strengthen friendship with India, but not at the cost of honour.

“All obstacles are from the Indian side, and there is definitely something wrong, which is delaying completion of the inquiry. It is our right to ask the Indian authorities to share report with us when they have not involved Pakistan in the inquiry,” the minister said at a press conference here.

He said the Samjhota Express could not achieve the results for which it had been started. Instead of engaging in ‘media war’, India should have responded positively, he said, adding that it would be sad if confidence-building measures between the two countries were affected by the Panipat incident.

Mr Ahmad regretted that the Indian government had still not provided the list of passengers, which was torturing for the government and the people of Pakistan, particularly the bereaved families. It was not a domestic train that the list could not be provided, he remarked.

The minister said there was no logic in stopping the train at Attari for six hours when it was a five-minute journey. It was a matter that could have been solved by the railway authorities of the two countries.

He said India’s refusal had forced him to involve Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to take up the matter with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He said he had tried to speak with his Indian counterpart Lalu Prasad Yadev immediately after the incident but neither he nor any other official of the Pakistan Railways was able to establish contact because the phones had been made inaccessible.

The minister said 24 bodies had been received via the Wagah border and 17 had been buried in India as identified by their relatives in India and Pakistan. Eighteen bodies had been buried in India as ‘Amanat’. The Pakistan High Commission in India had made arrangements for the funeral and burial of the victims, he said.

About India’s decision to conduct DNA tests on 15 bodies, he said the tests should be conducted immediately. He thanked the people of Ambala and Panipat for helping passengers of the train.

The minister deplored the standard of railway coaches introduced by India for the Samjhota Express, saying the compartments were like cages.

He urged the Indian Railways to join hands with the Pakistan Railways to provide better facilities to passengers. Chairmen of railways of the two countries should meet and drew new codes for the trains between the two countries. The Pakistan Railways was ready to increase the number of coaches, he said. He also said that services for passengers at Zero Point on the border would be further improved.

The minister said it would be his last press conference on the issue of the Samjhota Express because the Indian attitude had made him tired.