Author:
Publication: The Hindu
Date: August 17, 2000
Three prisoners repatriated
through this joint checkpost today claimed that a number of Indians being
held in jails across the border had gone insane due to continuous torture
by Pakistani intelligence officials.
``Indian prisoners are
treated like stray dogs and are denied proper food and medical facilities,
as a result of which many have fallen ill and even died,'' Mr. Manzoor
Hussain, a resident of Poonch district in Jammu, told reporters.
He returned after five years in Pakistani jails and was handed over to
Indian authorities at the checkpost.
Besides Manzoor, the
two other Indians handed over by Pakistan were Bansi Lal of Gurdaspur district
and Ram Bilas from Bihar. They had accidentally gone across on the
Samjhauta Express three years ago and were subsequently arrested in Lahore.
In exchange for these
prisoners, Indian authorities repatriated eight Pakistani nationals, including
a woman. All the eight were brought here from the Central Jail at
Jammu. The Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers supervised
the repatriation.
Mr. Manzoor said
that at Kot Lakhpat Jail, near Lahore, he had come across 17 Indians.
All of them were suffering from some disease or the other, he said.
``At least five out of them had gone insane after being tortured by intelligence
officials who wanted them to admit that they were Indian spies,'' he claimed.
According to him, the
food served in Pakistani jails was not fit even for consumption by animals.
Mr. Manzoor, who spent a major portion of his five years' sentence
in Rawalpindi Central Jail, said the cell in which he was locked contained
53 prisoners against the actual capacity for 15. - UNI
