PANIPAT: With the NIA court handing out its verdict on Wednesday, the trial of Samjhauta blasts accused may have come to an end, but not for the 19 who died aboard the train at Diwana in Haryana’s Panipat district on February 18, 2007. Of the 67 who died on the spot, a majoirity of whom were Pakistani nationals, 19 remained unidentified.Initially, 23 bodies remained unidentified till February 24 and were buried at Mehrana in a mass funeral. Before burial, those involved in autopsy had taken the viscera and samples for DNA profiling. These unidentified bodies were given grave numbers.In due course of time, four more bodies were identified on the basis of DNA examination.Earlier this week, TOI visited Mehrana and found around 1- to 12 madarsa students tending to the graves. “We are still hopeful that these bodies will be identified, that is why we shall preserve this place even after the case has been decided,” said Haji Shakoor Ahmed, the chairman of the trust managing the graveyard and the Mehrana-based madarsa. Earlier, when the families of victims from Pakistan used to come and visit the graveyard, the locals used to hold a small prayer meeting. “But as there are fewer people coming here now and the practice has also discontinued. But we are still maintaining the place,” Haji added.South Asian Forum for Peace against Terror president Ashok Randhawa said, “In fact, we have this sitaution as things were not systematic and records were not maintained properly. Otherwise, everybody knows that the unidentified bodies at Mehrana are only of the train victims.”

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