CHANDIGARH: Even as no death due to plague has been reported from any part of Punjab and the Punjab Government has categorically denied that there is any such Case, rumors about the number of plague patients are afloat. The effect of the disease is beginning to show on the various activities in the State.
For starters, the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has accepted a request by the West Indian team for the postponement by a week.
The last railway station on the Indo-Pakistan border at Attari has witnessed scenes of frustrated Pakistani nationals shouting anti-Pakistan slogans after the Pakistani authorities had cancelled all communication between the two countries and shut the doors on their own citizens following spread of plague in India. Hundreds of workers who have got jobs in the Middle East have been stranded after the suspension of flights to countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Instead Of seeing up screening centers on the Pakistani side at Wagha border or Lahore railway station, the Pakistani authorities have suspended all rail travel between the two countries leaving hundreds of Pakistani nationals stranded at the Attari railway station, Among the unfortunate are Several women and children, who. are witnessing the traditions of Indian hospitality in the form of contributions by the villagers of milk, fruit, vegetables and other food stuff. The Pakistani travelers include a former Provincial Assembly legislator from Sind, Mr. Daven Kumar Malhi.
The district administration officials of Amritsar have had to spend many a night on the Attari railway station trying to persuade the Pakistani officials to take back their Citizens. A constant contact on phone with the officials in Lahore and New Delhi has so far failed. Of the 577 passengers aboard the Samjhauta Express which runs between Attari and Lahore, there are 317 Pakistani nationals including 93 women and 94 children while the remaining 260 are Indians with valid passports.
The Pakistani nationals are reported to have been making demonstrations, raising slogans Against Pakistan and Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Some of the passengers have hardly enough money to reach home as it has been spent for purchase of gifts for kin back home. Some Indian travelers are visiting Pakistan to attend weddings of relatives there and feel that they would serve no purpose by reaching Pakistan after the wedding day.
Some rangers at the Wagha check post on the Indo-Pak border even refused to meet Mr. Malhi when the IG Border, Mr. D.R. Bhatti, and the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Amnitsar, Mr. Samant Goel, took the former legislator to persuade the Pakistani authorities to open gates at least for their own people. Latera group of 20 preachers from Iran and Syria, who were among the passengers, also failed to make the Pakistani authorities agree.
‘Though the Amritsar Administration has taken up the matter with the higher officials in Delhi, there is little hope even through the diplomatic efforts, considering the stubbom altitude of the Pakistani officials at the Waagha border it is learned.
Meanwhile, the State Government has assured that there is enough stock of medicines and the Government is taking every precaution to prevent the spread of plague to Punjab, despite the claims of the State Government; there are reports that patients with plague-like symptoms have been admitted to various hospitals. Such reports have been received from Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Patiala and Amritsar.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 7, 1994
