My sons would have grown up to be young men now says Staines

Dubai: “My sons would have grown up to be young men today,'' said Gladys Staines, an Australian whose two sons, Timothy 6 and Phillip 10, along with her missionary husband Graham 58 were burnt to death by Hindu extremists on January 22, 1999, in India.

The incident took place in the middle of the night when father and sons were sleeping in their vehicle in the village of Manoharpur in the Indian state of Orrisa.

Gladys 56 is in UAE to attend a function organised to honour her by the Gulf Malayalee Christian Writers Forum in Sharjah, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday at 8pm at Sharjah Worship.

Currently she lives in Queensland in Australia with her daughter and makes occasional visits to India to check the functioning of the Graham Staines Memorial Hospital, which was established in 2004.