Hit by Samjhauta blast, Pakistan family fights to stay on

NEW DELHI: For Ashok Kumar, the trauma that began with the Samjhauta Express blast while travelling to Pakistan seven years ago is far from over. A Pakistani citizen by birth, Kumar shifted with his family from Sialkot to Delhi's Kalkaji area. Though the expenses for his treatment have reduced the family to penury, Kumar doesn't want to return to Pakistan.
The stories of atrocities against the minority Hindus that has reached the family from across the border, especially from around their ancestral home in Sialkot, makes them shrink from the idea of having to return.The Kumars are making every effort to get Indian citizenship.
"We have been living here since 2007 and slowly we are regaining the rhythm of our life. I have got my younger daughter enrolled in a school, and the elder one helps my son to earn some money for the family. We have no one left to return to. I don't think my daughters are safe there (Sialkot)," said Shakuntala Kumar, Ashok's mother, who was at Safdarjung's burn ward. Ashok has been visiting the hospital ever since the blast and has undergone five operations on his right hand, which is no longer functional, and two on his left hand, which enables him to work as a web designer and support his family.
Days after the blast, after Ashok had been operated upon a few times, the family was recalled by the Pakistani government. He, however, returned to India for medical treatment. His family, including his father who died here last year, came along. He has since found work in Karol Bagh and makes Rs 5,000 a month.
"The need to find more work for supporting my two sisters, mother and an uncle who was incapacitated by the blast is always preying on my mind. As long as we feel safe we are hopeful of scraping a living by working together. The situation is fast deteriorating in Pakistan; we're trying to plead with the Indian authorities to let us stay here and, if possible, grant us citizenship.
The family's local contact, who was their guarantor for visa, left the city without warning. They approached the South Asian Forum For People Against Terror, whose president, Ashok Randhawa, has nominated himself as their guarantor and is reportedly trying to approach the home ministry to make a plea for citizenship. "We are helping them as the money Ashok earns is little. Now we'll try to approach ministers and bureaucrats and request, on humanitarian grounds, to let the family stay in India for some more time, and possibly assimilate them as well," said Randhawa.