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| Rajouri family struggles to get son's body back from Pak | | | Agencies
New Delhi, Nov 1: It is nearly five months since Kabir Khan of Rajouri lost his son Saleem - the youngest among is his four children. Khan, a daily wager, is running from pillar to post to bring back mortal remains of his son from Pakistan and complete his burial rituals.
On the intervening night of June 6 and 7, Saleem met with a deadly accident in Kargil. Not yet 18, he was a helper in gas tanker (JK02BK-6225) in which he was traveling that night along with Shokit Iqbal, son of one Lal Hussain, and Mohammad Jabbar, son of Mohd. Iqbal, also from Rajouri. The vehicle met with an accident near Hardass Bridge in Kargil while heading from Jammu towards Leh and plunged into Shingo river. The FIR mentions that few belongings of the driver were found at the spot of the accident.
It was revealed that the bodies were washed away to the other side of Gilgit-Baltistan to Kharma area. Since then everyday has been a trauma for Kabir Khan and his family who despite traveling to New Delhi at least a dozen times, have not been granted an audience either by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or by any senior official.
"We got a call from a local resident, Khawaja Ashiq Hussain, around June 18, who told us that the bodies of our boys were found lying on sand with some documents recovered on their bodies," said Kabir Khan speaking from Rajouri. He hoped that despite tensions in ties, two sides will help to repatriate his son's body on humanitarian grounds. "Since then I have travelled to Delhi several times. My nephew who works there literally goes and marks attendance in the Ministry on a daily basis. We submitted our documents for the third time last week," said Kabir Khan getting choked up as he spoke. Responding to the questions, officials said the matter has been taken up with Pakistan. "When this matter was brought to our notice, since then our High Commisison in Islamabad has taken it up repeatedly with Pakistan Foreign Office. Unfortunately we are still waiting for the response as to how we can find a way ahead on this matter. So far we have not found any satisfactory response from the Pakistani government," said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. Kabir Khan has now been informed on phone by MEA that discussions with Islamabad are in progress to facilitate his travel. Khan hopes that he will get a chance to say one final goodbye to his son and seek some closure. |
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