OF ALL the untold anguish that has been endured by the families of the Kashmir hostages, there now comes the worry of having to beg.

For as Bob Wells, the father of Blackburn student Paul Wells, who was taken captive in July, 1995, prepares to travel with other members of the Hostages in Kashmir Campaign on what is probably a last desperate bid to find their loved ones or at least discover their fate, it is disclosed that their funds are £4,000 short.

It is a pity that a caring society, as ours is supposed to be, has no state-run community chest to assist such people and that they must dig into their own finite reserves and seek charity.

Yet for the lack of such official compassion - over which a body like the Foreign Office might do well to set up a special fund to respond in cases like this - there is, we are sure, no shortage of sympathy and kindness among the people of East Lancashire who are witness to the plight of Paul Wells and his family.

They will, we are certain, respond to the families' appeal for financial help as generously as they have offered their prayers for Paul, his fellow hostages and their loved ones throughout their long ordeal.

Let them prove us right at a stroke.

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