A Pakistani Airforce Plane In New Delhi

Briefing by Official Spokesperson giving an update on the Samjhauta Express situation

Navtej Sarna: We thought we will give you an update on the Samjhauta Express situation. Also I would like to say at this stage that Government of India expresses its gratitude for the universal condemnation of the terrorist attack on Delhi-Attari Express and the messages of sympathy that have come from all over the world. We are determined to investigate the blasts and bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice.

Government is providing all assistance to the relatives of the victims from Pakistan to come to India. A special visa camp that has been set up by High Commission of India, Islamabad in Lahore is continuing. They have been contacting relatives of victims in Pakistan directly to facilitate visas and also to enquire about the missing. A Pakistani special aircraft has been permitted to come and, in fact, I understand that it has now landed that is today just a few minutes back. This is to evacuate seven injured Pakistanis who were in Safdarjung Hospital. The remaining three injured Pakistanis have preferred to go to Panipat and will return via Wagah.

The Indian Railways have also announced a relief package for the victims and their families. This includes Rs. 10 lakh each for the next of kin of the dead and Rs. 50,000 for the injured.

Government is making every effort possible to identify the dead bodies. So far 33 out of 68 dead have been identified, 27 of these are Pakistani nationals, of whom 21 have been handed over.

Once again I would like to reiterate that this attack underscores the need for effective action against terrorist groups wherever they exist. We hope that authorities in Pakistan will extend all cooperation in the investigations, whenever required, in the interest of identifying and punishing the guilty.

Question: You said seven people are returning on the plane. But the list issued by MEA earlier on the website mentioned the number of those admitted in Safdarjung Hospital as ten and I understand one of these has died. How do these numbers match up?

Navtej Sarna: Possibly, that list would have been updated. But this is the current factual situation. Seven are now going on the plane. They must be on the way to the airport at the moment. Three are going to Panipat who are the family of Rana Shaukat Ali, his wife Rukhsana and their daughter Aqsa.

And the aircraft, as I have already told you, it is a C-130 of the Pakistan Air Force along with a medical team. The seven of the injured who are going on the flight are Abdul Qayyum, Shameem, Ramesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Nadeem, Muhammad Shakeel and Qamaruddin.

Question: What about compensation? Do they have to come back to India for the compensation?

Navtej Sarna: Let us keep the eye on the ball at the moment. Compensation has been announced. At the moment the injured are going back. How and when the modalities of this are to be worked out, we will leave it to the Railway authorities to decide. If we know we will tell you.

Question: You said that 33 of the 68 dead have been identified. For the remaining, have the relatives been contacted out there?

Navtej Sarna: This is a continuing process. May be you missed the earlier part of my briefing. As I said, the visa camp is continuing to work. They are directly contacting the families and trying to trace the missing. People are continuing to come and Haryana and Punjab government are facilitating their travel to Panipat. They are continuing to come to help in the process. So the efforts are going on to identify each one of the dead persons.

Question: How many relatives have come so far?

Navtej Sarna: I do not have a figure on that.

We also have a list of the people who have been identified. If people are interested, we can give it. It is slightly dated now. It shows 22 of these as Pakistanis. Later identifications have taken that figure to 27.