Missing in action: Relatives keep their hopes alive
Express News Service
Chandigarh, June 15: SETTING aside the disappointment of not finding their dear ones in Pakistan jails, the relatives of the missing in action (MIA) defence personnel have expressed a hope that the warmth shown by the people of Pakistan would ultimately help know what happened to those who went missing in 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars.
The 14-member group returned home yesterday and were ÔdebriefedÕ by the Indian Government officials at New Delhi today.
The group was taken to ten jails across Pakistan during its 12-day stay there. The relatives of MIA defence personnel informed that the jails they were taken to were meant for civilian detainees only. ÒWe requested the Pakistan authorities to allow us a visit to jails with military detainees, but the request was not accepted,Ó said G S Gill, who was a part of the group that visited Pakistan jails in September, 1983.
Language was a barrier to some extent for the group visiting Pakistan. In all the jails except in Sind province, the jail records were in Urdu, which posed a problem for the group. ÒIn the jails situated in Punjab, the script used was Urdu which nobody in the group could read. So, we requested the jail authorities to read aloud. Our request was accepted in all jails except the Kot Lokhpat jail,Ó said Gill. The group also met some Indians imprisoned in Pakistan jails. The group was introduced to 59 Indians at the Kot Lokhpat jail, six of whom were insane. The group was allowed to talk to the inmates in the presence of the jail authorities, police officials and the local intelligence officials.
Simi Waraich, also a part of the group, said, ÒWe were keen to meet the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and present him with the evidence and proofs that indicate the presence of the MIA defence personnel in Pakistan jails. But we could not meet him.Ó
In their meeting with the Indian government officials today, the relatives of the group were assured that the government would form a special cell for coordinating the efforts to locate the MIA defence personnel.
© 2007 Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.