33 Years and Counting

Hindvi

Few of us meet 7000 people directly. That doesn`t mean we won`t be caught were we to hide as outlaws and word was out for our capture.

Bin Laden could be in Afghanistan for all we know. But he meets people.

so you think each of those 54 has the kind of support for his incarceration that Bin Laden has for his fredoom? even assuming bin Laden has been hiding in afghansistan, you think he has been in contact with thousands of people over the past 4 years?

Hindvi

Clearly, people who have kept Bin Laden hidden don`t think like you and I do. And people can exist without anyone announcing their presence.

see kaalchakra nothing can be ruled out in this world but it is hard to believe that over 33 year of the thousands of people the 54 missing in action (POWs are those that are confirmed to have survived) came into contact with not even a hand ful revealed their details to the press or the public, even when each of those 54 would be striving to get information out themselves. and remember of these 33 years Pakistan had democracy for atleast 17.

Still nothing can be ruled out, but what i dont understand is why would somebody keep writing articles on chowk under such conditions and not physically investigate the matter themselves, it isnt diffcult you know if you are sufficiently motivated.

And personally I cannot think of a greater motive than to help find a parent who has been wrongefully incarcerated for 33 years.

All countries are run by clerks. Quality of service comes from evolution of institutions that are public-government interfaces. Neither Indian nor Pakistani institutions have evolved to a level where aam aadmi`s first reaction to government interface is not ‘fear’. Therefore it is useless to talk about how many people have knowledge of those prisoners. If somebody even provided such information to some government agency it would have been dumped into the dustbin like Satyendranath Dube’s letter to India’s PMO. Once he was killed then only we came to know about that letter. If truth has commercial value, it will surface else it will remain buried under files.

Kalihawa
have you heard of the press?, of the foreign media? of private TV channels? of letters to the Indian media, or do u think somebody who sees such an injustice will go and report it only to the govt? and we are not talking about a handful of interactors here.

Hindvi

My view is that we should not think that all others would not behave so and so just because we ourselves would not, or because we find certain behaviors insane or ridiculously grotesque. You and I will not kill a child in cold blood. But people do. You and I will never plant bombs in bus loads of human beings, but people happily do. There are even `humans` who sacrifice their children for religious purposes. The examples are almost infinite in number. We may believe none of that, but that changes nothing.

If your point is that people should actually do much more than just write articles on Chowk (or elsewhere), I agree. They may be doing that aleady, or should be doing.

Re: # 22

I don`t think you read the last sentence.
``If truth has commercial value, it will surface else it will remain.........``

Press/media comes later.

you think 54 POWs in jail for 33 years does not have commercial value? have u heard of ``Survivor``?

Re: # 25

Now we are talking out of common, aren`t we?

...this is a painful thread for those who are affected directly or indirectly... none of the interactors has provided any solution but as usual they are busy debating who is better...pakistan is in no position to accept that there are pows in it`s jails, having denied it repeatedly...the only recourse for you is to approach the un, human right groups and foreign powers...only when our tinpot dictator is kicked in the behind...some action for the better takes place...till next time...


....kaalchakra and hindvi....you two are pathetic...

khamkhwa
``pakistan is in no position to accept that there are pows in it`s jails, having denied it repeatedly...the only recourse for you is to approach the un, human right groups and foreign powers...``

I Just hope all residents of pakistan are not like you, I know indians arent, we have all types here from HR orgs to leftists media who will highlight such an injustice irrespective of who commited it, else their is no hope for any prisnors in pakistani jails. Heck Pankaj Mishra did not even hesitate to expose the fake encounter of the ``Chattisinghpura massacre`` accussed who were all innocents, even in an insurgency affected state like Kashmir.

khamkhwa

It`s better to talk about things that we would otherwise sweep under the rug. Both Hindvi and I are discussing the matter using whatever understanding we have.

What would anyone else expect us to do?

kaalchakra

bottom line is closure is difficult for those whose relatives are missing in action. This is a well documented fact in the US after each of the wars from WWII, to Korea and Vietnam. The Japanese media are still hopeful of finding soldiers from the Japanese Imperial army in the jungles of Borneo. POWs have been exchanged several times between India and Pak it doesnt make any sense that Pakistan would hand over some 100s of prisoners and keep 54 other.

Again, I don`t claim to understand people`s motivations.

To be fair to Pakistanis, there have appeared some articles in Pakistani press raising the issue of Indian POWs. They may not be on par with Pankaj Misra`s stuff. But the only thing certain about Pankaj Misra is that he writes well.

It wasnt just pankaj mishra, after that the DNA samples of the dead were sent to forensic labs in india for comparison with their relatives, the police authorities switched the samples before sending them to the labs but the idiots replaced male DNA with Female DNA, that is when the police and army (Rashtriya Rifles, i think) got caught.

All of this was highlighted in mainstream newspapers, HT, Indian-Express, Hindu et al, not just by Pankaj mishra.