Grieving Pakistani family backs peace with India

KARACHI, Feb 22 (Reuters) A brother fought back tears to speak up for Pakistan's quest for peace with India, as women wailed at a funeral today for six members of a family killed by fire bombs aboard the Samjhauta Express.

The bodies of tailor Syed Iftikhar Ali, his wife, eight-year-old son, ten-year-old daughter, and his sister and brother-in-law lay side by side on a road in wooden coffin boxes brought from India to Karachi on a Pakistan Airforce C-130.

''I have lost my entire family. No one can understand what we are going through right now,'' said Syed Imtiaz Ali, who had followed his elder brother into the tailoring trade.

They were among 68 people killed in the inferno that engulfed two passenger coaches on the train connecting New Delhi to the Pakistani city of Lahore around midnight on Sunday.

''May God send the people who have committed this crime to hell.

I curse them with my heart,'' Imtiaz said.

No group has claimed responsibility for planting the suitcase bombs, but New Delhi suspects the attack was the work of Muslim fanatics opposed to the peace process between Pakistan and India.

''This is an attempt to spoil the peace process between the two countries by some fanatics. President Musharraf is doing the right thing promoting peace with India,'' Imtiaz said.

Leading Pakistani newspapers have struck a similar vein in editorials since the attack.

The two countries have fought three wars since Pakistan was formed out of the Partition of India 60 years ago, but the two governments vowed to stay committed to their peace process at talks in New Delhi on Wednesday between their foreign ministers.

A cousin, Syed Mumtaz Ali, spoke of the need for the old foes to work together.

''The governments should not blame each other, they should just find the culprits and see such a tragedy does not happen again,'' Mumtaz said.

Iftikhar and his family are among thousands of Urdu-speaking people who migrated to Pakistan from India during or after partition in 1947, and their largest concentration is in Karachi.

The family had gone to visit relatives in Farukhabad in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Some 600 relatives, friends and neighbours sobbed and prayed as a cleric led the funeral prayers in a densely populated neighbourhood of central Karachi.

Mumtaz said security should be reinforced for passengers on the Lahore-Delhi train, whose name means the Friendship Express.

''The service must continue as it is an important link for many divided families living in both countries,'' he said.

There has been no interruption to the service since the attack.

REUTERS BDP PM1906