Title - SAMJHAUTA BOMB EXPLOSION Pak High Commission turns a blind eye to blast victims

Panipat: The lawyer who fought the battle of the kin of the Pakistani victims in the Samjhauta bomb blast to get their visa to visit India for pursuing their case for compensation is upset over the “non responsive and indifferent” attitude of High Commission of Pakistan in India.Advocate Momin Malik said that he had sent letters to the Pak High Commission twice in 2011 seeking information on the pending claims of the relatives of the victims. There has been no response inspite of 41 reminders sent by him, he said.Hapless relatives of victims of the bomb blast that occurred in Samjhauta Express at Diwana Station (Panipat) on February 18, 2007, have been running from pillar to post for compensation. Even after the Indian government cleared their case to visit India, the Pak High Commission has not shown any concern.Malik had asked the Pak High Commission to inform whether the Government of India has announced compensation to the next of kin or has it said that the compensation would be paid in accordance with railway laws.“I have sought this information so that the matter can be taken up in the High court but there is no response at all,” Malik said.“In view of non-cooperative attitude of the Pak High Commission towards its own nationals, I would now write to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani for their intervention,” he said.

Malik said that the DNA report of the victims was also not available and in case Pak High Commission furnishes the desired information, it would be easy to pursue the case for compensation in the High Court.

While pursuing the case for visa, Malik came to know that the amount of compensation of two minors Sayed Umar Ali and Sayed Fahad Ali, whose father, mother minor brother and sister were killed in the blast had not been paid any compensation and one of their relatives Afaq Hasan, a resident of Farookhabad in India, usurped the compensation in connivance with some railway officials. Similarly, parents of one Ayaz Ahmed of Karachi also died in the bomb blast and their compensation was also claimed by Afaq Hasan.

Munna Khan, a resident of Karachi also lost his wife, daughter and son in the blast and the compensation was fraudulently claimed by his co-brother Abdul Rafiq.