By Geeta Pandey

BBC News, Bangalore

The brothers were warned by their neighbours before coming to India Abdul Gaffar sits on his hospital bed, drinking sweet syrupy tea from a plastic cup. "I'm feeling good," he says, smiling. Abdul was born with a congenital heart disease, explains brother Ali Baksh. "He had two big holes in his heart and some valves were missing. He was very weak, he couldn't walk, he had no strength in his hands. Thanks to Allah, he's fine now." Abdul is from the Pakistani city of Karachi and he is among the growing number of Pakistanis with serious heart conditions being referred to the Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital - in the southern Indian city of Bangalore. "We brought Abdul here because the doctors in Pakistan said he could not be treated there. They said, take him to India," Ali Baksh says. The cardiologists in Pakistan sent an e-mail to Narayana about Abdul, and the hospital responded with an offer to perform the surgery. "He was born with pulmonary atresia - which means there was no direct connection between his heart and lung arteries. So we used a synthetic tube to create a connection between the two," explains the hospital chairman and chief surgeon, Dr Devi Shetty. Strained relations Earlier, Mr Gaffar could not even get out of bed because the oxygen content in his body was very low. "But now, he can live a normal life. He can't take part in competitive sport, and can't do heavy exercise but other than that, all is well with him," Dr Shetty says. Relations between India and Pakistan - who have fought three wars since their partition in 1947 - have long been strained. Indian troops battled for three days to regain control of Mumbai in 2008 While their long-standing dispute over Kashmir continues, relations took a severe beating following the November 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks. India blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e Taiba. After initially denying the charge, Pakistan admitted that the attacks were partly planned on its territory. An angry India suspended peace talks and relations have since hit rock bottom. Narayana Hrudyalaya, however, has continued with its healthy form of "track two diplomacy" to mend the hearts of many Pakistanis. Every year the hospital performs more than 100 operations on Pakistani patients, most of them children, says Dr Shetty. "For us children of this country and children of Pakistan are the same. What sin have they done? It's not fair on our part to think when a child in Pakistan is in distress and I'm in a position to help the child, [that] I shouldn't help the child. It doesn't work that way. "I understand there are major issues brewing between the two countries. But I'm sure wisdom will prevail, and the leaders will set things right because this kind of relationship cannot go on forever. I'm sure at some point of time things will become normal," he says. Warning Dr Shetty, however, says that Indian authorities have been "very sympathetic" to Pakistani children with heart problems and have issued them visas quickly. That claim is seconded by Ali Baksh, who says they had no problems obtaining an Indian visa. But, he says, they did set off from Karachi in December with a sense of trepidation. Dr Shetty hopes things will become normal between India and Pakistan "Our neighbours warned us," says Ali Baksh. "They said: 'You are going to India, God knows what kind of people are there? The times are bad, relations between the two countries are bad, there may be a war while you're there, you are bound to get into some sort of problem.' "I said: 'If something happens, then that's my luck. I will take my brother to India for his surgery. And thank Allah we haven't had any bad experience, everything turned out really well for us.' " The brothers crossed the Wagah border by train and arrived in the Indian capital, Delhi. "From there we took another train to Bangalore. We asked around and found our way to the hospital." Ali Baksh is all praise for his hosts. "People here are very good, they are peace-loving. They work hard for their living, they don't bother anyone." And now the brothers are getting ready for the journey home. "Now my brother is fine, we will be discharged soon and then we will fly to Delhi and then take the train back to Pakistan." Abdul cannot seem to contain his happiness. "I'm looking forward to meeting abbu [father] and ammi [mother]. When I was coming, ammi said, go get your surgery done, and then come back."



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