Kashmiri Family Divided by Religion and Borders United
in Earthquake Tragedy

Ashima Kaul [ashimakb@...]

WHEN COUNTRIES DIVIDE PEOPLE AND NATURE TEACHES TO
RISE ABOVE BOUNDARIES.

On hearing that a family from Bakshi Nagar in Jammu
had been struck by the recent earthquake, I could not
stop myself from going to meet them. It was not
difficult to locate the house as score of
people-strangers, family and friends had gathered in
the by lanes to show solidarity and ‘do something’ to
help the Tandon Family, waiting anxiously for some
news about the welfare of their three members who had
taken the Srinagar- Muzzafarbad bus on 6th October
2005 to meet their relatives across the border.



Jagdish Lal Tandon and Basti Lal Tandon, two Indian
Hindu brothers along with Subhash Tandon, Jagdish’s
son had left for Muzaffarabad to meet their brothers
Tariq and Maqbool in Hatiya Dupata, a small village
near Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Tariq and Maqbool had stayed back in Muzaffarabad in
1947 and converted to Islam. However, religion did not
stop the two families from keeping in touch with each
other and when the bus started between the two parts
of Kashmir, the brothers on India side decided to
visit their relatives on Pakistan side.



“On Friday 7th October 2005 they had called and
informed us that they had reached and were very happy
to meet their brothers and their families”, said Dr.
S. D. Tandon, the brother-in-law. But as Jyoti,
Subhash’s wife kept on saying, she had an intuition
that ‘something is going to go wrong’, if they leave
for Pakistan.

On Saturday 8th October 2005, Jyoti’s worst fears came
true. The Earthquake, which struck South Asia,
destroyed Hatiya Dupata. With no communication links
between the two sides of Kashmir, the Tandon family in
Jammu had no way of knowing the welfare of their loved
ones on the other side. The anxious family tried all
ways to get some information but they failed. Finally,
they called one of their relatives in United States of
America who was able to establish contact with a local
friend who trekked to the village. After two days on
10th October 2005, the Tandon’s got a phone call from
a PCO in Garhi Dupata informing that while Basti Lal
Tandon had died, the two members of the family from
Jammu were seriously injured with no medical
facilities, food and water. They were lying on the
roadside waiting for help. Both father and son had
walked from Hatiya Dupata, crossed a small river and
somehow reached Garhi Dupata.

The family in Bakshi Nagar appealed to the Indian
authorities and the State Government to air lift their
family members and bring them back to India as soon as
possible.

But it was not so easy. Frantic phone calls and
appeals perhaps are not enough to melt the hearts of
nation states. While the media did their job and left,
I, along with Pradeep Dutta a journalist and a member
of Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network,
called up Syed Shahnawaz, a Yakjah member in Srinagar,
to urgently contact the Chief Minister. The Chief
Secretary has been informed and he is following it up
with the Central Government. Meanwhile, Pradeep also
contacted Surinder Singh Oberoi of the International
Committee of Red Cross in New Delhi. Oberoi is making
a personal intervention and making all efforts to work
out a solution.



The pain and sorrow of the divided family, who,
inspite of the bus service, continue to be ‘divided’
should urge the two countries to rise above politics
and redeem the anguish of those who are suffering. We,
the people of Pakistan and India, have to show to our
countries that we are united and stand together in
this grave tragedy. We request our Pakistani friends
to appeal their Government to take up the case of
Tandon family on an urgent basis.


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The PCO number at GARHI DUPATA IS – 05885042474.