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From: "I. K. Shukla" Date: Mon Dec 20, 2004 9 Subject: FW: [advocacycouncil] 33 years after war >From: "A.Hamid Khan. Barrister at law" <bashani2000@y...> >Reply-To: advocacycouncil-owner@yahoogroups.com >To: advocacycouncil@yahoogroups.com >Subject: [advocacycouncil] 33 years after war >Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 15:06:40 -0800 (PST) Still waiting, 33 years after India-Pakistan war: Indo Asian News Service: Rajkot , Dec 19,2004 Thirty-three years after he disappeared behind the opaque border with Pakistan, 69-year-old Nirmal Singh is still waiting for her soldier husband Assa Singh to return from war. Sudedar Assa Singh of 5 Sikh Regiment is believed to be one of the 54 missing Indian defence personnel languishing in a Pakistani jail as a prisoner of war (PoW) since 1971, when the two countries went to war. There are others like Nirmal Singh whose lives remain in suspended animation until they finally hear some word about their loved ones. Some such families of Indian PoWs from Jammu and Kashmir gathered here earlier this week to celebrate Vijay Diwas, or Victory Day, to mark their victory against Pakistan on Dec 16, 1971. But there was little to celebrate for these families. Assa Singh's son Harcharan Singh is convinced that his father is alive. He says another soldier, Bhogal Ram, who had been released from Pakistan in 2000, had said Assa Singh was alive and in the Kot Lakhpat jail. Harcharan was five years old when the war started. At 38, the wounds are still fresh. "My mother had to undergo a lot of suffering. The landlord snatched away our agricultural land and the government provided no financial aid, government jobs or land," he said tearfully. "My mother is suffering from a number of health problems. The government has done nothing to ensure the release of my father. But what is gone is gone, I have lost my childhood, my family has undergone pain and agony. Now my only wish is to meet my father and embrace him." The story of waiting, longing and desperation is echoed by Kanta Devi, 60, whose husband Subedar Kalidas hasn't been seen since 1971 - but he has been heard. She says she heard her husband's voice on Pakistan Radio saying that he was alive and safe after the war. She is confident he will return. When he does, she has promised to offer a heavy gold ring at the Kali temple, go to Vaishno Devi and take a dip in the river Ganges with her family. "Raising four sons and two daughters was not easy. I got my children educated and married from the Rs. 300 pension that I received. There was no other support from the government." Today, that Rs. 300 has increased to Rs. 5,000. But that is little consolation to her family of two widowed daughters and two unemployed sons. "It is ironical that the country for which my husband fought has no time to listen to us," Kanta Devi said bitterly. Her son Ramesh Kumar, 39, recollects the days of struggle and a childhood without a father. "I used to work in shops overtime so I could pay my school and college fees... The Kargil heroes were given millions in addition to other benefits like land and jobs. But what about the heroes of the 1971 war?" he asked. The anger against the government is palpable. Also in Rajkot to 'celebrate' the victory was Bansi Lal, son-in-law of Jagdish Lal of the 2nd Mahar regiment. He shows a letter from the Mahar regiment written in 1972 to prove how unfeeling the government has been. The letter written in 1972 reads: "Application for grant from the disabled army personnel widows and orphan fund was placed before the welfare committee, but it is regretted that due to paucity of funds, your case has been rejected." Said vice-president of the Missing Defence Personnel Relatives Association (MDPRA) and human rights activist M. K. Paul: "After the war, 2,238 Indian defence personnel were found missing. After the Simla Agreement of 1972, India returned all the 93,000 PoWs of Pakistan who had surrendered before the Indian Army. However, only 617 PoWs of India were returned by Pakistan." He said the treatment of Indian PoWs was the "biggest violation of international human rights by Pakistan". Paul has filed a petition for their release with the International Red Cross in Geneva and with Human Rights Watch in New York. "Though the Pakistan government has denied having any Indian PoWs, there is a lot of evidence to the contrary," he said. Victoria Schofield's book titled "Bhutto Trial and Execution" in 1978 states that there were 50-odd Indians crying, weeping and screaming all night next to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's cell in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail. Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha in September 1996, then minister of external affairs I. K. Gujral had said: "Fifty-four missing Indian defence personnel are believed to be in custody in Pakistan." And Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee notes in the Sainik Samachar journal of September 2004: "It is estimated that 17 army officers, two junior commissioned officers and 19 other ranks (ORs) are currently in Pakistan jails." And those are the slender slivers of hope that the families are hanging on to. --Indo-Asian News Service |
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| << December19, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]Media is the medium of Communal KHAUF in Gujarat |
December21, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]Plight of blue-collar workers >> |
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