05-10-2004, 11:42 AM
When Dictator Mushy visited India he told whole world <b>"There are no POWs in Pakistan jail"</b>
He is a big time lair. Denial is their religion.
____________________________________________
<b>Can we give them back their Home & Honour</b>
Can we give them back their Home & Honour
<i>Weeks after Kargil, two Indian soldiers were captured by Pakistan. Their regiment branded them deserters after saying they were âsighted.â That stained their family honour, froze their income. Last week, an Indo-Pak phone call began the process of getting them back. The Sunday Express visits their homes in Meerut and Mukhtsar and finds two waiting families changed for ever. One soldierâs daughter hasnât seen her father yet, the otherâs wife has married again. One has lost his father, the other his mother </i>
SAIKAT DATTA
MEERUT, MUKHTSAR, MAY 8: Last week, Lt Gen Amrik Singh Bahia, Director-General, Military Operations, called Maj Gen Mohammed Yousaf, his counterpart in Islamabad, with a very specific agenda: How to bring Lance Naik Jagsir Singh and Sapper Mohammed Arif home. He was seeking to bring an end to a sad and silent chapter in Indian military history.
Captured five years ago when they strayed across LoC near Kargil, the two men were disowned by their own regiment and declared deserters. Their salaries were frozen. Police reports were filed against them in their villages and a label of shame pinned to their Army records.
The two soldiers from 108 Engineer Regiment, which was engaged in de-mining operations after the guns fell silent in Kargil, disappeared after being despatched to their unit headquarters on September 17, 1999.
An official regimental report, accessed by The Sunday Express, proclaims them as ââdeserters/away without leave,ââ and claims that they were sighted ââby unit personnel on September 19.ââ
That wasnât accurate.
Pak authorities are now said to have acknowledged that Jagsir and Arif have been in their custody since September 17, 1999, the day of their disappearance. And Islamabad is willing to free them in exchange for three Pakistani civilians and one soldier, now in Indian jails.
ââWe are working on a war footing to repatriate these two soldiers,ââ the Armyâs official spokesman, Major Gen Deepak Summanwar, told The Sunday Express tonight.
Jagsir and Arif may cross the Wagah border soon, to return to what remains of their families. One man has lost a father and another a motherâeach parent protesting to the end that their son was innocent. Oneâs wife has remarried anotherâs refuses to say if she will return.
The Sunday Express travelled to their hometowns to record the stories of the two families.
LANCE NAIK JAGSIR SINGH:
My brother wants me to remarry, says the waiting wife
Kuldeep is four years old but she spreads the fingers on her palm to insist that she is really five. That, of course, canât be true because Kuldeep has never seen her fatherâand Jagsir went missing slightly less than five years ago.
Kuldeep was born in November 1999, two months after her father Jagsir was captured. By that time, he had already been declared a deserter and the local police had already called on the familyâs one-room hovel on the edge of Kotbhai village in Muktsar to make sure he was not hiding there. Unable to face the shame and the uncertainty, Kuldeepâs mother, Jaswinder, packed her bags and left for her own family home just days after the girl was born. Kuldeep grew up in poverty, with a laminated picture of Jagsir in uniform the only decoration in the room. She is proud of the father she has never seen.
⢠In exchange for freeing the two soldiers, Pakistan wants to secure the release of Sepoy Salim Ali Shah, who was arrested on November 23, 2002. He was initially charged with crossing the border illegally. A case of attempted murder was later filed against him. Since he was arrested in peace time, authorities refuse to treat him as a prisoner of war. Pakistan also wants India to free three of its civilians, currently in a Jammu and Kashmir prison for crossing the border illegally.
⢠Three Indian ministries are involved in the exercise. The Defence MInistry is working out the modalities of the exchange with Pakistan. The Home Ministry is coordinating the release of Pakistani prisoners with the state governments. Eventually, the Ministry of External Affairs will step in for talks about the actual exchange.
Gurdev, Jagsirâs father, fought till the end to clear his sonâs name. He wrote to the Prime Minister and to the Chief of Army Staff. He badgered Jagsirâs Regiment. All he got was the stock reply: ââMissing since September 17, 1999, sighted by unit personnel on September 19, 1999ââ â hence a deserter. That inaccuracy has now been corrected but it came too late for Gurdev, who died a few months back. Since then, his wife, Chhoto, 60, has been bringing up Kuldeep. ââWhy would he desert?ââ asks a tired Chhoto. ââHe had served 10 years and had everything to come back to.ââ When The Sunday Express asked to meet her daughter-in-law, Jagsirâs wife, who lives 45 km away. Chhoto was reluctant, because she had no money for the return journey. Assured that she would be dropped back, Chhoto made the trip and hugged Jaswinder with genuine warmth.
But there was an undercurrent of tension as Jaswinderâs brother sat close at hand. Jaswinder had known for a couple of months about her husband, but she refuses to say if she will return to his home. ââMy brother wants me to remarry,ââ she confides, refusing to say if something has already been settled.
She says goodbye to her daughter with some regret. Four years is a long time.
SAPPER MOHAMMED ARIF:
Brother carries a torn inland letter as proof of loyalty
In early 1999, Sapper Mohammed Arif returned to his village Mundali, in Meerut district, to get married. Ten days later, he was back in Kargil with his regiment.
While his wife, Guddi, waited patiently for months to meet once more the man she barely knew, a stream of reassuring letters from Arif sustained her. On September 15, 1999, he wrote to his family: ââMeri taraf se bilkul bhi phikar na karein. Yahan mein khairiyat se hoon (Donât worry about me. I am well).ââ
That was two days before he was captured. The tattered, army postal inland has been carefully preserved by Arifâs brother, Abdul Hamid, almost like an article of faith.
ââSee the date,ââ says Hamid, as he thrusts it into your hands. He has photocopied the letter many times over and sent it to every official he could think of, as proof that his brother was a loyal soldier, with no intentions of deserting his regiment. No one listened, but such was Hamidâs conviction that even the barely-married Guddi spent four years, waiting for news about Arif. Four years is a long time to wait for a man you have known for just ten days.
Finally, last year, the family had to make some hard decisions. Guddi was still young and there was no word on Arif. With everyoneâs consent, she remarried. ââShe is in Bulandshahr. Donât bother her,ââ pleaded Hamid.
Meanwhile, his ammi, Hazra Begum, died last year, still waiting for her son. Hamid earns just a few hundred rupees a month, doing odd-jobs, and he had almost stopped fighting to prove his brotherâs innocence when the family got another letter in April.
It confirmed that Arif was alive in Pakistani custody. It also confirmed what Hamid had been saying all along. âMera bhai bhagoda nahin hai (my brother is not a deserter),â he said. Itâs just that when Sapper Mohammed Arif comes home, ammi and Guddi will not be there to receive him.
He is a big time lair. Denial is their religion.
____________________________________________
<b>Can we give them back their Home & Honour</b>
Can we give them back their Home & Honour
<i>Weeks after Kargil, two Indian soldiers were captured by Pakistan. Their regiment branded them deserters after saying they were âsighted.â That stained their family honour, froze their income. Last week, an Indo-Pak phone call began the process of getting them back. The Sunday Express visits their homes in Meerut and Mukhtsar and finds two waiting families changed for ever. One soldierâs daughter hasnât seen her father yet, the otherâs wife has married again. One has lost his father, the other his mother </i>
SAIKAT DATTA
MEERUT, MUKHTSAR, MAY 8: Last week, Lt Gen Amrik Singh Bahia, Director-General, Military Operations, called Maj Gen Mohammed Yousaf, his counterpart in Islamabad, with a very specific agenda: How to bring Lance Naik Jagsir Singh and Sapper Mohammed Arif home. He was seeking to bring an end to a sad and silent chapter in Indian military history.
Captured five years ago when they strayed across LoC near Kargil, the two men were disowned by their own regiment and declared deserters. Their salaries were frozen. Police reports were filed against them in their villages and a label of shame pinned to their Army records.
The two soldiers from 108 Engineer Regiment, which was engaged in de-mining operations after the guns fell silent in Kargil, disappeared after being despatched to their unit headquarters on September 17, 1999.
An official regimental report, accessed by The Sunday Express, proclaims them as ââdeserters/away without leave,ââ and claims that they were sighted ââby unit personnel on September 19.ââ
That wasnât accurate.
Pak authorities are now said to have acknowledged that Jagsir and Arif have been in their custody since September 17, 1999, the day of their disappearance. And Islamabad is willing to free them in exchange for three Pakistani civilians and one soldier, now in Indian jails.
ââWe are working on a war footing to repatriate these two soldiers,ââ the Armyâs official spokesman, Major Gen Deepak Summanwar, told The Sunday Express tonight.
Jagsir and Arif may cross the Wagah border soon, to return to what remains of their families. One man has lost a father and another a motherâeach parent protesting to the end that their son was innocent. Oneâs wife has remarried anotherâs refuses to say if she will return.
The Sunday Express travelled to their hometowns to record the stories of the two families.
LANCE NAIK JAGSIR SINGH:
My brother wants me to remarry, says the waiting wife
Kuldeep is four years old but she spreads the fingers on her palm to insist that she is really five. That, of course, canât be true because Kuldeep has never seen her fatherâand Jagsir went missing slightly less than five years ago.
Kuldeep was born in November 1999, two months after her father Jagsir was captured. By that time, he had already been declared a deserter and the local police had already called on the familyâs one-room hovel on the edge of Kotbhai village in Muktsar to make sure he was not hiding there. Unable to face the shame and the uncertainty, Kuldeepâs mother, Jaswinder, packed her bags and left for her own family home just days after the girl was born. Kuldeep grew up in poverty, with a laminated picture of Jagsir in uniform the only decoration in the room. She is proud of the father she has never seen.
⢠In exchange for freeing the two soldiers, Pakistan wants to secure the release of Sepoy Salim Ali Shah, who was arrested on November 23, 2002. He was initially charged with crossing the border illegally. A case of attempted murder was later filed against him. Since he was arrested in peace time, authorities refuse to treat him as a prisoner of war. Pakistan also wants India to free three of its civilians, currently in a Jammu and Kashmir prison for crossing the border illegally.
⢠Three Indian ministries are involved in the exercise. The Defence MInistry is working out the modalities of the exchange with Pakistan. The Home Ministry is coordinating the release of Pakistani prisoners with the state governments. Eventually, the Ministry of External Affairs will step in for talks about the actual exchange.
Gurdev, Jagsirâs father, fought till the end to clear his sonâs name. He wrote to the Prime Minister and to the Chief of Army Staff. He badgered Jagsirâs Regiment. All he got was the stock reply: ââMissing since September 17, 1999, sighted by unit personnel on September 19, 1999ââ â hence a deserter. That inaccuracy has now been corrected but it came too late for Gurdev, who died a few months back. Since then, his wife, Chhoto, 60, has been bringing up Kuldeep. ââWhy would he desert?ââ asks a tired Chhoto. ââHe had served 10 years and had everything to come back to.ââ When The Sunday Express asked to meet her daughter-in-law, Jagsirâs wife, who lives 45 km away. Chhoto was reluctant, because she had no money for the return journey. Assured that she would be dropped back, Chhoto made the trip and hugged Jaswinder with genuine warmth.
But there was an undercurrent of tension as Jaswinderâs brother sat close at hand. Jaswinder had known for a couple of months about her husband, but she refuses to say if she will return to his home. ââMy brother wants me to remarry,ââ she confides, refusing to say if something has already been settled.
She says goodbye to her daughter with some regret. Four years is a long time.
SAPPER MOHAMMED ARIF:
Brother carries a torn inland letter as proof of loyalty
In early 1999, Sapper Mohammed Arif returned to his village Mundali, in Meerut district, to get married. Ten days later, he was back in Kargil with his regiment.
While his wife, Guddi, waited patiently for months to meet once more the man she barely knew, a stream of reassuring letters from Arif sustained her. On September 15, 1999, he wrote to his family: ââMeri taraf se bilkul bhi phikar na karein. Yahan mein khairiyat se hoon (Donât worry about me. I am well).ââ
That was two days before he was captured. The tattered, army postal inland has been carefully preserved by Arifâs brother, Abdul Hamid, almost like an article of faith.
ââSee the date,ââ says Hamid, as he thrusts it into your hands. He has photocopied the letter many times over and sent it to every official he could think of, as proof that his brother was a loyal soldier, with no intentions of deserting his regiment. No one listened, but such was Hamidâs conviction that even the barely-married Guddi spent four years, waiting for news about Arif. Four years is a long time to wait for a man you have known for just ten days.
Finally, last year, the family had to make some hard decisions. Guddi was still young and there was no word on Arif. With everyoneâs consent, she remarried. ââShe is in Bulandshahr. Donât bother her,ââ pleaded Hamid.
Meanwhile, his ammi, Hazra Begum, died last year, still waiting for her son. Hamid earns just a few hundred rupees a month, doing odd-jobs, and he had almost stopped fighting to prove his brotherâs innocence when the family got another letter in April.
It confirmed that Arif was alive in Pakistani custody. It also confirmed what Hamid had been saying all along. âMera bhai bhagoda nahin hai (my brother is not a deserter),â he said. Itâs just that when Sapper Mohammed Arif comes home, ammi and Guddi will not be there to receive him.