Indian officials not cooperating: Pak Rly Minister

Islamabad, Feb 20: Pakistan Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed today alleged that some Indian officials had displayed a "non-cooperative" attitude by not providing correct details of the dead and injured Pakistanis travelling on the Samjhauta Express which became a target of terrorist attack.

He told the National Assembly that so far there were reports of 67 deaths in the train but the Indian rail officials had conveyed to Pakistan the name of only one dead passenger identified as Shafique.

The Indian officials have said 13 Pakistanis were injured and they were admitted to a Delhi hospital but their condition was such that they could not be allowed to travel for another 56 hours, he added.

Sheikh Rashid said immediately after the incident, he contacted the Indian railway officials and rushed to the Wagah border but after initial contact, they could not be reached.

"They had put down the phone receivers and I immediately contacted the President (Gen Pervez Musharraf) and the Prime Minister (Mr Shaukat Aziz) and informed him of the situation," he said.

Sheikh Rashid said a C-130 transport plane and a special train was ready to bring the bodies back to Pakistan, which the Indian officials say were charred beyond recognition.

He said Indian authorities for no apparent reason stopped the train at Attari and the short distance to Wagah was covered in six hours.

He said locking the train doors, despite clearance by the security officials, was the cause of large number of deaths.

The Minister asked India to conduct a thorough probe into the incident and wanted Pakistani investigating agencies also to be involved in the inquiry.

UNI