Family escaped blast, now stranded in India without visa

For Syeda Hasina, a Pakistani housewife, missing the train to Pakistan was like a miracle which saved her life. Exhausted after a daylong journey from western India, Hasina and her husband and their three young children, scrambled into the bustling Old Delhi station on Sunday night only to see the train to Pakistan chugging out. Only hours later, two deadly explosions on the train killed at least 66 passengers.

But Hasina says that their initial feelings of elation have now turned into despair as the family is caught in the tortuous visa rules which govern travel between longtime rivals India and Pakistan. 8220;Everyone is saying how lucky we were to have missed the train. But no one is telling us what we should do now,8221; says Hasina 32.

The family8217;s dilemma reflects the decades-old rules applying to travelers moving across one of the world8217;s most militarised frontiers. Simply getting the visa took two trips from their home in Karachi to the Indian Embassy in Islamabad. They finally got their visas, for Jamnagar.

Now stranded in a Delhi railway station8217;s waiting room, Siddique8217;s anxious face speaks of his frustration. Their visas for Jamnagar mean the family cannot leave the station8212; but Indian railroad rules don8217;t permit them to stay in the railway station for more than 24 hours.

8220;Allah has saved us from traveling on that train. He8217;ll pull us out of this too,8221; Hasina said, reassuringly.