M A I N   N E W S

Indian spy doesn’t get to meet former ‘prison mate’ Zardari

Kolkata, April 8
The efforts of Mehboob Elahi, a former Indian spy who had once stayed with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in the Karachi Central Jail, to meet Zardari today in New Delhi didn’t bear fruit. He wanted to raise the issue of Indian prisoners of war (POW) in Pakistan.

Elahi said he wrote to Shahid Malik, Pakistan High Commissioner in India, and President Pratibha Patil seeking appointment with Zardari to draw his attention to the Indian prisoners’ plight, but did not get any reply.

The 52-year-old, who had spent two decades in several Pakistani prisons from 1977 after being caught spying for India, had stayed together in a Pakistani jail with Zardari for 2-3 months in the late 1980s.

"On Sundays, I used to meet him and other leaders of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in their cells. He was not only familiar with the issues of POWs, but was also sympathetic to us," Elahi, who now stays in Kolkata, said.

He recalled that Zardari and other leaders were generous to him and used to offer him coffee, fruits and biscuits besides arranging for soaps and oil.

"In Pakistani jails, POWs are kept under inhuman conditions. They are not even given basic facilities to remain alive. We have to survive somehow," Elahi said.

Spying for India in the Pakistani army and police, Elahi had crossed over to the Pakistan side in 1968, but was caught 10 years later.

"When I was released in 1996, I promised my fellow prisoners that I will spend the rest of my life in fighting for their rights," Elahi, now an active campaigner for the rights of POWs, said. — PTI