A Pakistani student, who was attacked and beaten in an Indian university’s hostel room last week, has reunited with his family.
“I am quite happy to be back home – and on my feet. This is what I prayed and yearned for,” said Ali Hassan Raza, who landed in Lahore on Saturday.
A relative of Raza’s said that his parents were not willing to send him back to complete his degree. “They are happy that he came back home safely. They are not willing to take a risk to send him back right now.”
He was assaulted by unidentified people in his hostel room at the Pondicherry University in Puducherry state.
“They hit me on the head with liquor bottles, tried to strangle me with a rope, and beat me with rods. At that time, I only prayed to be back home safely,” Raza told reporters at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore.
“For my thesis, I had selected the topic of ‘Impression of Indian Youth towards Pakistan’ and I was shocked to see the results that many Indian youth who wanted peace with Pakistan and said good things about my country. So I have no idea who the attackers were and what were their motives,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2014.