From Lahore and karachi, a trauma trip

“They should be in Panipat around 4 am. In fact, we expected more people from Pakistan to join them in the bus, but no one else turned up. We finally let the bus go at 7.45 pm as the nine passengers were getting restless,” said an Intelligence official.

The nine, include Sham Lal, a Hindu from Sialkot, who said he saw two of his injured relatives, Ashok and Ramesh, on a news channel. “They are undergoing treatment at Safdarjang Hospital in Delhi,” said Lal who also knew their bed numbers.

“Khuda kare vo sirf jakhmi hee ho (I hope he is only injured),” prays Mehmood Akhtar, a Lahore resident, as he walked in through the joint border checkpost to find his uncle Abdul Majid who was on the train. Mehmood said he was happy to have got the visa so quickly. “Now I only hope my uncle is safe and sound. Otherwise, what will I tell my family back home,” he wrings his hands before boarding the bus.

Bhatt said there was a long queue of people in Pakistan who wanted to visit India for search for relatives. “Television par dekha sab kuchh, ab pata nahi kya kare, kisko mile,” said Bhatt, adding that they were told that they would be first taken to Panipat and then to Delhi.

The relatives of the tragedy-struck families said though the news was received with shock in Pakistan, there was no resentment, only remorse. “Dahashatgardo ka kaam hai, aur kya (It is an act of terrorists, what else),” said Hamir Raza.

Meanwhile, it was a tense evening for relatives who reached Panipat from Delhi to look for relatives. “Seven of us had come to Delhi from Multan to meet our cousins...