Travel permit to Pak comes too late for Lal’s ‘last wish’

The matter came to light when some intelligence sleuths, after the arrival of a fresh list of passengers for the journey to Rawalakot, went to Kasturi Lal’s house to inform him about his travel permit only to find that Lal had died on March 10 this year.

Kasturi Lal’s son Arun Kumar, a medical assistant in the Health Department, too had applied for a travel permit along with his deceased father. However, his case is still pending with the Home Ministry.

When Kasturi Lal’s family members received information about his travel permits, they couldn’t stop their tears. They said it was his last wish to visit his place of birth at Sehra village in Kotli. “He had made all preparations and had even stitched new clothes to meet his old friends and in-laws’ family across the LoC,” recalls his widow, Ram Murti Devi.

Like Kasturi Lal, Mohinder Payasa’s family had also migrated to Poonch from across the LoC. However, while Payasa along with his other family members crossed over, his brother Tirath Ram was left behind in Kohta village. Later, he embraced Islam and became Mohammad Iqbal.

Though Mohammad Iqbal had died some years ago, Kasturi Lal became eager to meet his deceased brother-in-law’s family after Payasa returned from PoK last year and told him how much they remembered him and his wife. Kasturi Lal was 20 when he migrated from Sehra village and his last wish was to meet his old friends, said Payasa.

“Kasturi Lal used to enquire almost every day about his permit. He was so enthusiastic about visiting PoK that he often used to ask whether his friends will recognise him, what will be the condition of his ancestral house and land,” recalls Payasa. “He used to be tensed about the delay in travel permit. Finally when it did arrive, he was no more.”