33 Years and Counting

The Tribune, Chandigarh, has printed an article on 25-08-2005 about the Sarabjit Singh case. Sarabjit Singh is as per Pakistani calims, a Raw agent and has been sentenced to death. Others claim it is a case of mistaken identity and he has served 15 years in prison and should be pardoned. Inadvertently, it brought the long pending issue of 54 prisoners of the 1971 war into the limelight again.

As per the article, the South Asian Human Rights Group Secretary, Canada Chapter, Mr.Sheetal Das Kaler, says he has definitive information about 30 urns of ashes of prisoners of war lodged in Kot Lakhpat jail. He also said that some prisoners of war asked him to help them as well, in 2003 but he did not have access to them as he had got permission only to meet Sarabjit Singh in the presence of Pakistani officials.

Last year in October, there was an article in the papers that Khushi Mohammad, a resident of Malerkotla, who had been released from Kot Lakhpat jail of Pakistan had informed media persons that some Indian Army Captains who had been caught in 1971 by the Pakistan army were being held in captivity in the jail,’’ Khushi Mohammad, released from jail in October, had also given the name of a BSF constable Surjit Singh who was in the same jail with him.

So where do we, the families of 54 Missing Army and Air Force men go from here? Do we go back to sleep till the next news article where another source says they met another old man in a Pakistani prison who said they were a prisoner of the 1971 war! The 1971 war finished 33 years back but for these forgotten men, the forgotten 54, the war continues. For their families, it is neverending as well. Dr Suri’s son Major Ashok Suri wrote a letter stating that he was in a Karachi prison in 1975 along with 20 other officers and begging him to ask the Indian government to intervene and have them released. Dr Suri is no more but do you think he rested from that minute on. He left no stone unturned in his efforts to get the men released.

In 1983, he along with Mr Gill (B/O Wg Cdr H S Gill) and others went to Pakistan at the invitation of the Pakistani government. Their hopes had soared briefly as Narasimha Rao told them, “ Go get our men back.” It was not to be. They reached Multan jail, were shown some Indians but no army personnel, but fishermen and their likes; one of the Indian prisoners murmured to the dejected visitors pointedly, ” Those who you have come for have already been removed from here. You wont find them here!”

Is this how we treat our soldiers? How do we forget that our men may still be there, old, infirm, deranged perhaps, yet still there. Do we not have a duty to get them back? The Pakistani army left it’s soldiers behind in Kargil and refused to acknowledge them as their soldiers. Don’t do the same to these men. Till we stand up for our soldiers who defend our borders for us, our sovereignty means little. I dont personally believe in war or borders but a war did occur, men were taken alive, India and Pakistan are separate countries. We can work towards peace only if all such issues are settled amicably.

They were men who fought for the Indian army valiantly. Some men who received Vir Chakras (though for receiving those the families had to acknowledge their demise as the award is a posthumous one!). Why do we accept the Pakistan government’s denials despite all the proof that they kept back our men. DO OUR SOLDIERS NOT DESERVE MORE? I have often asked the Pakistanis if they know of any pakistani soldiers who were kept back in India- Give us their details. We will bring up their cases with the Indian government. Soldiers deserve that respect. Riaz Khokhar said in 1996 to Zee TV that there were 250 -300 Pakistani soldiers in Indian jails but the Pakistan government had told their families to think of their men as martyrs and pray for them. The Pakistan government has never given a list of any Pakistani men who they believe were held back by India. Maybe they want us to forget too. But this issue will not die till the truth comes out.

Apart from all the reports over the years about their presence in Pakistan, In February this year, by Pakistan’s own admission (Media article dated February 2, 2005, Rauf Klasra, Islamabad;reprinted in the Indian Express on February 3, 2005), in the media there was an article about 182 Indian prisoners who have been in Pakistani jails since 1971 on unknown charges.


Every day seems like another nail in the coffin to us. We know that in wars there are casualties. One comes to terms with them and life, though not the same, carries on. However, when you know that these men may well be alive, the thought grabs you, the implications become a visual imagery- you see pictures of them; 33 years in prison. You wonder “ maybe they died some years back but maybe not. you wonder how they are? How they lived all these years. What do they look like? Sometimes you wonder that you are here, friterring away money uselessly on this and that while they may be dying this instant and you’ll never know. Life- does it even mean anything, the question comes to you. And you know the answer. Perhaps not yet one must try.

A wife of one of the Officers told me that a holy man had told her that her husband had died in prison 5 years back and she believed him. I wish I had such faith in holy men. Yet even if some of them are dead, does the issue go away then? Is that what the Pakistan government is hoping? Even then the issue remains. Those that are no more, their remains should be sent home. What happened to the 54? Let them come home finally, dead or alive, walking or in urns. Let the families finally rest in peace. let the soldiers who fought for what they believed was right come home.