New Delhi, July 16
Several Pakistani prisoners, including children, who were set free at the Wagah border by India, are yet to experience freedom as they have been detained under various pretexts by security agencies in Islamabad, according to a media report.Cases of Pakistani prisoners languishing at unknown destinations after being taken into custody immediately on their release at the Wagah border have been documented in the latest issue of the Pakistani magazine — The Newsline.
Even children among the prisoners are not being spared, the Karachi-based magazine said. The parents and relatives of the prisoners have been running from pillar to post to get information of their whereabouts, it said in the article titled “The Disappearing Act”.
The disappearance of these persons was attributed to Pakistani intelligence agencies and military authorities, who ostensibly take them into custody on charges of having links with terrorist outfits like Al-Qaida, or on suspicion of being “cultivated” by India, the article said.
This has become the norm since the 9/11 attacks spurred operations against extremist Islamic elements as well as the beginning of the normalisation process between Pakistan and India, including the exchange of prisoners, it said.
It listed the case of 11-year-old Khurram Nawaz, who was handed over to Pakistan and is still being held by authorities there. Nawaz used to live with his maternal aunt in Lahore and has been missing since August 13, 2005. A journalist in the Indian state of Punjab wrote a story on him when he found him in Faridkot Jail, following which his family came to know of his whereabouts, it said.
After going through the lengthy procedure of recognition and identification as a Pakistani citizen, Nawaz’s family secures his release from the Indian jail, but they are still clueless as to how to get him freed from their own country’s military authorities, the article said.
The family has written several letters to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which has pursued the matter with the federal government.
Several persons freed from Indian jails have met the same fate. They include children, who strayed across the border, and militants like Rauf Kashmiri, who was released in May this year after being imprisoned for nearly 15 years.
— PTI
