The Forgotten 54 and More

http://www.dawn.com/2004/10/15/letted.htm#3

`Forgotten POWs`

Your Oct 2 editorial ``Forgotten POWs``, referring to a letter from the daughter of an Indian army officer, was apt and a humane reminder of the senseless stand taken by the governments of Pakistan and India.

The release of two Indian soldiers taken prisoner during the Kargil conflict is a welcome move which also underscores the emotional plight of relatives of those described as `missing`, `deserter` or `declared dead` Indian or Pakistan soldiers.

The letter also claims that ``at least 54 Indian POWs are still languishing in jails in Pakistan since 1971 and some could be in prison on the Indian side too`` (hoping against hope). But the ``official positions do not tell the whole story`` raises hopes among the kith and kin of the long lost (forgotten) souls.

A critical point you have raised is that ``both (India and Pakistan) may not want to touch a sensitive issue by publicly admitting the presence of POWs``. To overcome the apparent embarrassment (diplomatic denial), the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) has evolved a process.

Two committees for peace and reconciliation were set up by the sixth joint convention held in Karachi (December last). A meeting of the joint committee (India and Pakistan) was held during the 10 years of celebration on Sept 5 in Lahore.

Relevant to the forgotten POWs ``it was decided to adopt as a priority issue the identification of Indian prisoners in Pakistan and Pakistan prisoners in India. Two sub-committees were set up to take the responsibility for extensive investigation and compiling the list of such prisoners within a timeframe ranging from three to six months.

The process is on in India and Pakistan and hopefully by the end of this year there will be solid evidence to this effect. The seventh joint convention of PIPFPD is to be held in February 2005 in Delhi where concrete steps will be taken to resolve this agonizing issue.

DR S. HAROON AHMED

Co-convener, Peace and Reconciliation Committee, PIPFPD, Karachi

Simmi`s letter was printed in Dawn a couple of days ago. Here`s the editorial that followed:

http://www.dawn.com/2004/10/02/ed.htm#3

Forgotten POWs

In a letter in this newspaper, the daughter of an Indian army officer says that she has been trying to trace her father`s whereabouts ever since he went missing during the 1971 war between Pakistan and India.

This comes after the surprise release by Pakistan in early August of two Indian soldiers taken as POWs during the Kargil conflict and of a Pakistani soldier by the Indian side. What is interesting to note is that until then both governments had strongly denied holding any POWs.

Mohammad Arif, one of the two Indian soldiers repatriated, returned home to find that his wife, thinking him to be dead (the Indian army had declared both men deserters), had married again. The father of the other POW died in his son`s absence while his wife, also believing him to be dead, went away to her parents` place.

The letter in question claims that at least 54 Indian POWs are still languishing in jails in Pakistan since 1971, and there might be a possibility that some could be in prison on the Indian side too.

Islamabad`s official position is that it holds no Indian POWs, a refrain echoed by New Delhi. However, the recent swap in August indicates that such official positions do not tell the whole story.

It could be that in the case of a conflict as old as 1971, and with a new atmosphere of cordiality and reconciliation prevailing between the two countries, both may not want to touch a sensitive issue by publicly admitting the presence of POWs.

But it is precisely for that reason that they should be willing to broach the subject without the risk of any misunderstanding. The case is indeed strong for the release of any POW who may still be in captivity on either side. Doing so will help provide some kind of closure and solace for their families, as in the case of the daughter who wrote the letter.

Government is basically an inhuman institution and a military government more so. The ruler when he becomes a `Taghoot` (anti-human being) he cares abot nothing except to maintain and increase his power to opress other human beings. Even Auragzeb who was considered to be a vary pious ruler of India incarcerated his father Shahjehan and killed his brothers to secure throne for himself to which he was not entitled as a rule.

Oh! My India, the land of Kabir, Nanak, Bulleshah and Iqbal will you become human again so that we an sing in the words of Iqbal: -

Hindi hein ham watan he Hindostan hamara
Ham bulbulein hein iski yih gulsitan hamara

Do we need another bloodbath to quench the religious hatred which our great leaders had tried to resolve by creating different governments, all of which proved to be anti-human?

Hi, well regarding the article and the interacts, As Beena has pointed out, the main thing is that international conventions have been violated and that needs to be highlighted. Second, as FarZana Versey has aptly said the governmentss are the only ones that can do something about this. However, in 32 years they havent got very far. Earlier the families had concerns and the Indian govt told them to keep it quiet as there were dangers that they could be eliminated if the matter came out. However, after so long I dont think keeping quiet will help. The issue will then be just swept under the carpet. No, media exposure makes people aware and pressurises the governments, that is essential as most people are not aware of this issue and other similar issues. It is because the media is there that atrocities in Kashmir and Punjab on both sides of the border get highlighted and keeps the security forces somewhat in check, after all.
Some people ask me if there are pakistani Missing army persons. Well, Riaz Khokhar in a Zee TV interview said that there were 300-400 Pakistani missing army personnel from the 1971 war but that they had told the families that they should think that their loved ones had died for the country. However, the pakistanis have not followed up the case in the manner that the Indians have done. If there is a list , maybe we could follow it up with our government and the Pakistanis could follow up the case of the Indian men with theirs! Also, some people in Pakistan must know. Benazir Bhutto told Rajiv Gandhi that there were 40 odd army prisoners in Pakistan. Someone needs to ask her where she got her information from and if she is still willing to stand by it. It is believed that these men are kept as security prisoners and as spies, often under assumed names. I think it is extremely fortuitous that i met Beena in Delhi. It makes one wonder sometimes that there is more to life than what appears on the surface. That there is a time for everything. Thanks Beena.

The proof, Beena, lies also with the large number of Punjabi Jat Sikh Muslims who were with the Pakistani Army for the past 50-60 years and are now, courtesy reasonably heavy influx of Sikh funds lately into the Sheikhupura/Nankana Sahib areas, getting some of their love for the Panth back again.

I keep getting whispers and rumours from the cabbie network worldwide . . . not just about missing Indian Armed Forces personnel into and through Pakistn but also of the other way around . . . I mean, Middlecoat`s rather mysterious vanishing during 1971 and rumours of susbequent sightings in Yukon Valley have been often discussed in whispers . . . the sub-Continental urge to make a fresh start in a new place should never be under-played, no?

I honestly feel that the gurudwaras in Pakistan hold many secrets . . . and that the 1947 transfer of power also involved a lot of exchange of religions for sake of maintaning rights to property. I just can not break confidences, but I know of one case where a Hindu was lionised for great valour to the death shown in the face of mobs in 1947 etcetc . . . and two
generations later coincidence brought together his two branches of grandchildren outside India . . . since he had actually just converted due to circumstances to Islam . . . but the families in India and Pakistan needed the refugee property exchange, right?

So what does this have to do with missing prisoners? I don`t really know, but it seems like part of a large jigsaw puzzle.

A good person to start with in Lahore might be Altaf Randhawa, ex-Chief Secretary of Punjab. I have heard that he knows a lot . . . another would be Begum Abida Syal.

There is some thing wrong with Simi`s time line. badshah Khan did not die in 1983 he died in 1988.

Musharraf came to Delhi in 2001, announced that he is also a soldier and so on and so forth and how and why would Pakistan hold POWs from conflicts that were over. Around the same time 2 soldiers of India were sitting in Pakistan as POWs and it was not even announced.

It is wrong to confuse Pakistan and Pakistan Army. Pakistan is a country with humanity just like any other country. Pak Army is an ideologically driven force motivated only by hatred of India and nothing else. To trust Pak Army or any of its top representatives by India is sheer foolishness.

Beena:

I am glad you are in touch with Simmi; a few days ago she had written to me that she had misplaced your email address, which I do not have.

Re. the PoW issue, it isn`t that the Pak media has not given it any coverage...a few months ago either Dawn or The Nation did write about it. Simmi in fact has told me that Asma Jehangir, lawyer and human rights activist, has been following up on the case. The Indian media has had occasional write-ups, so there has not been any consistent effort. It is only when heads of the two countries meet that everyone wakes up.

This should tell us something: it has to be dealt with at the political level. Activists and the media can only put pressure and this has been done. When an Indian delegation had gone in the 80s, I recall Major Suri`s father telling me that they were shown drug addicts and common criminals.

Besides, the fact is that some of those held in Pak prisons do not in fact qualify as PoWs if they were captured a little before the outbreak of the war. Therefore, other categories will have to be checked too.

Can this be done at the individual or family level? Will the governments not have to be involved?

And Victoria Scholfield has stated in her book that when it came to the exchange of prisoners soon after the war, the Indian government refused to accept them because some did not remember their names...

Simmi and I have been in touch since our meeting - she is now in Australia for a course. Here is the note she sent me recently, with a useful link to an HT special on this issue, and a letter to Pakistani papers, which I`ve sent on for publication to The News - maybe friends in Dawn will also publish it - although I agree with those who point out (in the interacts to Simmi`s piece on Chowk referred to here) that we really need to get this taken up in the Urdu media and on television (which we will try for). Some friends in Islamabad have also promised to pursue this case. I`d also like to add an important point that I should have made in my piece: that holding prisoners incommunicado and without information to their families violates the Geneva Conventions, to which I believe both India & Pk are signatories. If anyone has more info on this, pls let us know. Maybe this case could be taken up under that framework. Over to Simmi. beena

`...I`m in sydney for a few days and in fact with Natalya Gill today, the niece of Wing Cdr Gill whose plane was shot down over Badin in 71 and whose name was announced on Pakistan radio as having been captured only to be retracted later. Later, Mohan Lal Bhaskar who was in prison in Pakistan till 1975 wrote in a book ``I spied for India`` that he was told by a Maj Ayaaz Ahmed Sipra who was in Fort of Attock for conspiring against Bhutto that there were 40 Indian officers from the 65 and 71 wars there who had no chance of release and that he ( Maj Sipra) had befriended a Gill of the Indian Air Force and Capt Singh of the indian army(possibly Giriraj Singh?). Natalya`s father ,Mr Gill in fact travelled to India with Dr Suri( whose son Maj Suri had written him a note from a Karachi jail in 1975) and 4 others to Multan jail in 1983 at the invitation of the pakistani govt. Narasimha Rao told them, ``Go get your men in whatever state they are.``

`Unfortunately, Indira Gandhi accused Pakistan of being responsible for Abdul Ghaffar Khan`s death at the time and apparently did not show the Pakistanis the promised prisoners too so it proved to be a fruitless trip. Families have met Brig Abid and Asma Jehangir too... Asma Jehangir said they were believed to be in the Fort of Attock and that some Generals of the Pakistan army may know. Riaz Khokhar in a 1995 interview to Zee TV said that there was no concrete evidence that there were any POWs and that they had searched there jails over and over and had not found them. He went onto say, ``Maybe they were there under assumed names``!!!

`The fact is that it is extremely difficult for the Pakistan govt to admit that they have them after so long. It is not possible to repatriate them quietly as the issue will leak out in some way or the other. Only if there is a complete change of heart- maybe it can be turned iinto a sign of peace and reconciliation and a making up for mistakes of past regimes. Earlier the families felt it should be kept quiet as then perhaps the Pakistan govt may release them but after 32 years that chance is not there so I feel it should be given maximum exposure. I am sending you a site with some information and a letter I had written to Dawn and Jang- I dont think they got published though.

`At this point it is not us, we carry on with our lives, one can cope by thinking of it as Karma or the Zen belief that the world is as it is and these men just got caught up in extremely bad Karma! The fact is that it happened, these men went somewhere. Where? even if they died in prison, when and where? These quiestions should be asked and answers sought till satisfactorily resolved. Take Care, Simmi.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/2004/Mar/10/6806_0,001600430005.htm

OPEN LETTER TO MUSHARRAF: A DAUGHTER`S APPEAL

Major Sharanjitpal Singh Waraich’s name is number one on the list of 54 POW from the 1971 war. He was born in 1938. He was the oldest of four surviving brothers born to Gurdeep Singh and Harbans Kaur, who belonged to an erstwhile family of landlords form Gujranwala, Pakistan. He and Maj Kanwaljit Singh Sandhu were good friends. They were the daredevils of the regiment, 15 Punjab, also known as Patiala regiment.

Sharanjit’s grandfather ‘s grandfather, at the time in Pakistan had joined the Indian army as Subedar and was part of the raising of 24 Punjab. His son and grandson later served in the same battalion. Their family had converted in the 1700s to Sikhism. Ironically it was the same battalion, 24 Punjab, which went to Pakistan when the Indian armies were divided along with the country in 1971 that raided husainiwala on 3rd Dec 1971 and caught 15 Punjab on the Indian side unaware capturing the two officers. The same 24 Punjab that three generations of Major Waraich’s forefathers had served in that captured him!

Everytime Indo-Pak talks are held, we scan the newspapers searching if any headway has been made with respect to around 40-50 Missing personnel. Everytime before the talks, we present memorandums and petitions to the government asking them to press upon Pakistan to release the long languishing prisoners. It would have been better if they had died. One would have mourned them and sought solace in yearly remembrance prayers but what does one do when the thought is always at the back of your mind that they may still be alive, may still be in prison in Pakistan since 32 years and 10 months! Major Ghosh’s photo appeared in Time magazine in a Pakistani jail, Major Suri’s letter reached his father in 1975 from a Karachi jail, Wg Cdr Gill and a Capt Singh were befriended by a Pakistani Major Ayaaz A Sipra in the Fort of Attock, Maj Waraich was reportedly in Dargai jail in NWFP in 1972 as per Gen Riaz, and numerous other reports have trickled in about the presence of these men in Pakistan. The Pakistanis say some prisoners cannot identify themselves due having lost their mental balance, so the Indian govt asked them to send photos which haven’t come.

For the governments, these are mere 40 odd men among millions but I appeal to General Musharraf, who being a soldier will surely empathise with these soldiers. A soldier needs to be treated with respect. Gen Musharraf said at the Agra summit that there were no Army personnel in Pakistani jails yet recently two soldiers captured during the Kargil conflict were released. Perhaps due to the oversight of former regimes in Pakistan, a few Indian army personnel maybe still languishing in some Pakistani jail under some other names. Riaz Khokhar in 1996 said as much, that perhaps they may be under assumed names because they haven’t been able to trace them otherwise. I appeal to General Musharraf to please try and locate these men again. Let them return to their families. It is a moot point as to how many survivors there will be now but we need to know what happened to them.

Pakistan radio announced the names of those captured during the war- So where after all did these men go??? It is upto the Pakistani government now. It would be a goodwill gesture like no other. We don’t mind taking them back in whatever state they are, whatever survivors there are, we just hope that finally they can come home to their families and spend the last few years of their lives in peace. I went to the Wagah- Attari border this year on August 15th and was a part of the candle light vigil for peace between India and Pakistan.

The governments can continue their disputes. Why should the people suffer? I read about the Pakistani family released recently after years in an Indian prison. The Human Rights Commissions of both countries should be allowed to meet these prisoners every year and take up their cases. The governments should compensate the prisoners they release after holding them for so long for trivial reasons. A South Asian tribunal should be set up for this purpose. We, the families of the forgotten 54 cannot rest in peace till we know what happened to these men. Where did they go?

Dr Simmi Waraich. MD
New Delhi

Temporal #1
From what I have read and heard, jails in India are no better. Lawyers are a law in themselves. They are biggest and meanest gang that needs to be cleaned. A story or two pops up every other year about some poor soul that was left forgotten in a corner of a jail for years after completion of his/her sentence.

It is possible that India POW are just lying forgotten in some similar Pakistani jail.

Beena:

I second your attempts to give a closure to families, and admire your courage to take up this cause. It requires a sustained effort and not just one time exposure to melt hardened and forgotten hearts and souls. This is not a political, bureaucratic, or a military issue. These families need a voice and champions inside Pakistan. Their voices must reach the power corridors, and touch the human soul and family person that all of us, however angry and bitter, have. Only then Simi and others like her will get a closure they have been looking for all their lives.

Anil

beena:

...yes, if they are alive and still held they should be returned and if they are dead then the proof should be offered... the families do need a closure...

digression:

don`t know much about the prison conditons in india...but from what little i have garnered about the conditions in pakistani jails...it is high time a full scale reform is initiated...there are thousands (not hundreds) who are incarcerated long past their original sentences...just because they cannot come up with paltry fines imposed at the time of conviction...

there should also some mechanism to see the judiciary not over-step the punishment imposed

a week`s govt. paid holiday in the overcrowded jail resorts for all judges and lawyers perhaps would do wonders to fix some of the grieviances and shortfalls;)

lve

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