Activist offers to bring ashes from Pakistan

Som Nath Khattar wants the MEA to take up with the Pakistani government his request that he be granted permission to collect “unclaimed ashes” of Hindus lying in Pakistani cremation grounds and prisons for years.

Som Nath Khattar, a social worker, has approached the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) with a strange request.

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Khattar wants the MEA to take up with the Pakistani government his request that he be granted permission to collect “unclaimed ashes” of Hindus lying in Pakistani cremation grounds and prisons for years.

Khattar wants to take the ashes to Haridwar and immerse them in the Ganges. “All I have requested is permission to collect the unclaimed ashes. I want the government to talk to Pakistan so that we are provided with all possible help from that side,” Khattar said.

It was an article in the HT (dated January 22) that made Khattar write to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The article mentioned about a “deserted cremation ground” in Karachi where the “remains of about 130 Hindus are gathering dust”.