Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September 13, 2009
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/three-indian-spies-released-from-pakistan-jails-seek-compensation/516418/0
For Sunil Bhola (50), the eight years he spent
in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail were a service to the nation. But he resents
the government apathy to what he did for his country.
Bhola, a resident of Dhadwan in Gurudaspur
tehsil of Punjab, was recruited in 1989 by the Army Intelligence Unit in Gurudaspur
(RED) Sambha Code 43244 to head to Pakistan and spy for the Indian Army. In
the next 10 years, he visited Pakistan for at least one hundred times before
he was arrested on February 2, 1999 by the Pakistani Army near Babia post,
says Bhola.
"Inhuman torture was a daily routine,"
says Bhola pointing to the injury marks on his hands. "One Mehta from
Indian High Commission in Pakistan met me in prison and secured my passport
and other documents. Finally, I returned to India via Wagah Border with 19
other Indian prisoners on December 23, 2006."
When Bhola, father of four, reached Dhadwan,
his native place, he found that the promises 'that his family will be taken
care of' were not fulfilled. He says: "I am too old and too broken to
get any job. My family is starving. I sacrificed 20 years of my life for my
country."
The plight of Bhola and two others was brought
to fore in Ahmedabad on Saturday as they appeared before the media and spoke
about the government's apathy towards their cases.
The story of Prakashchand, 60, a resident
of Bega village in the Jammu district, is not very different. Released along
with Bhola in 2006, Prakashchand who had started working as a BSF informer
in 1984, says, "I visited Pakistan at least 20 times until my arrest
on April 1, 2001. My inputs had even led to the arrest of three dreaded militants
of Babbar Khalsa International."
He said, "As I was in Pakistan for so
many years, the J&K police often call me for interrogations." The
third case is of Ratanlal (45) of Bhagatpur village of Gurudaspur who was
first sent to Pakistan in 1994 by the Military Intelligence unit in Pathankot.
Ratanlal says, "I was arrested by Pakistani army personnel on July 7,
1999 during the Kargil war and released on August 21, 2002."
"During my stay there, my wife and parents
were not paid any compensation. Even after my return, I have not been paid
any legal dues," said Ratanlal. Present at the place along with them
was Kishore Paul, a human rights activist and advocate of the Gujarat High
Court.
Paul said, "These three will be made
a party to the petition that we have filed in the Delhi High Court in February
this year against the government inaction regarding the National Human Rights
Commission's order dated June 23, 2007 in case no. 192/6/07-08/OC. Our contention
is securing immediate release of Indians languishing in Pakistani jails and
granting due compensation to those who have been released."
This petition lists 16 Indian prisoners, of
which Kashmir Singh was released in March last year after the then caretaker
Federal Minister for Human Rights in Pakistan, Ansar Burney took up his case.
Two others, Chanan Singh and Parvez Ahmed, were released after languishing
in jails for 20 and 15 years, respectively.
Paul said, "Last year in April, the Gujarat
High Court had granted an interim relief of Rs 5 lakh to the family of Kuldipkumar
Yadav, a native of Mehsana, who had been in Pakistan jails since 1993."
Dilipkumar Yadav, a former BSF jawan himself and Kuldip's brother, said, "Earlier,
we used to receive letters from him regularly but these have stopped completely
since last three years. Now, we don't even know whether Kuldip is alive or
not."
