New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) A compensation of over Rs.22.5 lakh was released last week to the Pakistani couple who lost their five children in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing. A cheque issued earlier was delayed due to banking procedures, an Indian Railway official said Tuesday.

'We released the payment (in cheque) to the family as soon as the railway tribunal in Chandigarh settled the case last year. There was no delay from our side,' Northern Railway spokesperson Anant Swarup told IANS.

Rana Shaukat Ali, 50, from Faisalabad in Pakistan received the compensation of Rs.22.53 lakh last week - nearly three years after his five children were killed in the ghastly Samjhauta Express blast blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit.

Swarup said the Indian Railways didn't even appeal against the tribunal decision keeping in mind 'the plight of the Pakistani family'.

The railway official said Shaukat was given the cheque last year. But he didn't have a bank account in India to encash it. Opening a bank account for a Pakistani in India is impossible unless you have a working visa.

'The delay in encashing caused the cheque issued earlier to lapse. It was re-validated and after getting help from the external affairs ministry the cheque was re-issued in Pakistani currency along with interest,' he said.

'Anyway better late then never. The family got it and I am sure they will be relieved now,' said the official.

Around 70 people were killed in the February 2007 bombing on the Samjhauta Express friendship train between India and Pakistan.