“Isi watan me paida hue the, aur isi watan ki mitti mein dafnaaye jayenge. Phir kya hua agar woh Pakistani the (They were born here, they will be buried here. So what if they were Pakistani),” says Waqil Khan.

It’s 2 am and the family from Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, is the first to claim bodies from the 67 lying at the Panipat Civil Hospital mortuary. It has not been an easy decision. Waqil Khan lost five of his relatives from Pakistan in the blasts. All will be buried in India.

“My brother Tasleem Khan went to Pakistan in 1987 with his wife Nafisa after they were granted citizenship. They had eight children. This was his first visit, his wife and three children came with him. But he fell ill, had typhoid and could not leave on January 18, the date he was to return. We got the visa extended by a month. All five died in the blasts.”

Three other brothers also live in Putlinagar in Hathras. Waqil Khan says Tasleem went to Pakistan hoping for a better life. “Our condition is not so good. But he settled in Hyderabad (Pakistan) and got a job in a bangle factory. It took him 20 years to save enough money to visit us. Now he is no more. We just don’t know what to tell his remaining five children in Pakistan. They are all so young. We have simply told them that their parents are in a serious condition, that they should come to India as soon as they can. We don’t know what to do, we plan to keep the children with us.”

... contd.