International - India & World   

Indians in PoK get helping hand

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Pakistan Army makes arrangements for the journey of the quake-hit back to India

CHAKLALA: Avtar Singh and his family never dreamt they would land up at the Pakistan military base here on Wednesday when they boarded the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus on October 6 with hopes of getting a glimpse of their ancestral home on the outskirts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Rendered without shelter by Saturday's earthquake, Mr. Singh and four relatives were airlifted by a Pakistan Air Force helicopter.

A day after the quake they contacted relatives in Jammu and after intervention by the Indian Government, the Pakistan Army not only managed to locate them but also arrange for their transportation to Islamabad and onwards to India.

But the Tandon family, who travelled with the Singh family on the same bus, was not as lucky. The senior Tandon survived with serious injuries, but one of his sons died and the other was injured.

They were to have been brought to Islamabad but refused to board the helicopter without the body of their kin, yet to be retrieved from the debris.

Despite the trauma of the last 72 hours, the Singh family appeared in good spirits. "It was a terrible scene at the house as it collapsed killing several of my relatives. We survived because we were waiting for breakfast outside the house," Mr. Singh said.

Mr. Singh, who was born in Sarai village in Muzaffarabad, said he had gone to see his village after 57 years. His plans were shattered by the killer quake.

Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon, present at the military base to receive the Indians, told journalists that the Indians would be put up at a guesthouse on Wednesday night and sent to the Wagah border on Thursday.

An injured Indian national, Jagdish Lal Tandon, will be admitted to a hospital in Islamabad, he said. Thanking the Pakistan Government for taking "special interest" in locating Indian nationals and bringing them here, Mr. Menon said efforts would be made to locate other missing Indians.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Kadirgamar, "a true cosmopolitan in spirit"
E.U. backs plans for more aid, debt relief to Africa
Uphold SLFP principles, Chandrika tells Rajapakse
Irish stylist springs Booker surprise
China for socialist rural approach
Hobbit-like ancestors were cooks
Qatar donates stadium to Israel
Nepal King for elections in 2007
Danish Premier faces Iraqi suit
India obsessed with permanent seat in U.N. Security Council: N. Ram
Indians in PoK get helping hand
Musharraf thanks Manmohan

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu