Hoshiarpur/Kapurthala, September 7
Three youths of Punjab have been stuck in Pakistan for the past six months, awaiting their return. Forced to live as Muslims in Pakistan for survival after spending some time in prison for illegal immigration, the youths’ hope to benefit from the recent friendly gestures of releasing prisoners has been belied. They do not figure in the list of 16 youths who will be handed over to the Indian Government at Wagah tomorrow.

The three youths, Jagwinder Singh, Balbir Singh and Avtar Singh of Himmatpura and Sasoli villages in Hoshiarpur and Nadala in Kapurthala, respectively, after spending life in imprisonment and in hiding for over one year in various countries, including Turkey and Iran, are now stuck up in Pakistan and are at the Dera Sahib Gurdwara in Lahore. Their families have been left desolate and debt-ridden. They had sold their entire property for sending them abroad and had now borrowed money on interest to arrange for their safe return.

The three youths were brought to the Wagah border in April after the Pakistan Government cleared their repatriation. The Indian Government refused them entry. Some visitors from Punjab, who went on a tour to Pakistan recently, tried to help the youths. A resident of Ludhiana met the youths a few days ago in Lahore. He gave them Rs 1,000 each and pleaded with The Tribune to take up their case.

Jagwinder Singh (25) had left for Lebanon five years ago. He had been lured by a travel agent to leave for lucrative alien shores. His mother Jaswinder Kaur said she had borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh by pledging four bighas. He stayed in Lebanon for three years, working as a labourer, but could not send any money home.

The youth was the only breadwinner of the family. His two sisters are of marriageable age. Members of his family had gone to the Wagah border a few days after Baisakhi this year, when jathas were returning from Pakistan. The family had received a phone call from him that he would return with one of the jathas.

Balbir Singh (28) flew to Lebanon in 1998. The family had borrowed Rs 1.25 lakh for him. They had then thought that this would be a small amount for their son, who would become a millionaire in no time.

He could not send a penny home. His 60-year-old father, Mr Gurbachan Singh, alias Bachna Ram, had to sell his one-acre to clear the debt. The youth was duped by an agent in Lebanon and ended up in a jail in Turkey while on way to Italy. From Turkey, he was pushed into Iran and finally into Pakistan.