Attari (Indo-Pak Border), June 28
Time flies: ask Surjeet Singh, his sagging shoulders carrying the burden of over 30-year incarceration in the enemy territory. His time-scarred smile behind his stout yet aging frame was an emotional giveaway to his family: a farmer, who never strayed beyond his Phidde village in Ferozepur, was finally, home.

Amidst rousing welcome by villagers, Surjeet, 70, stepped out of the Pakistani prison van, still hand-cuffed, at Zero Line on Thursday. Sporting white kurta-payjama and a black turban, his flowing white beard barely hid his weary eyes that lit up at the sight of his daughter Parminder Kaur, son Kulwinder Singh and his wife Harbans Kaur. "I was just a couple of years old when he went away," said Kulwinder, 32.

"There can't be bigger happiness…," Surjeet said. "Indian prisoners are facing no problem in Pakistani jails. But, jail is after all a jail." Surjeet said, adding there were at least 10 Indian prisoners in Kot Lakhpat Jail (Lahore) who have already completed their term and are awaiting their release.

"Yes, I was sent by the RAW (India's external espionage agency Research and Analysis Wing) or the Army and caught," he said as he grappled with a horde of reporters. The interaction, closely monitored by Border Security Force personnel, was snapped short.

His wife Harbans Kaur had to wait a little longer before she could meet him. The bus by which she arrived was disallowed to go up to the Zero Line. At the Integrated Check Post (ICP), Harbans asked her grandchildren how their grandfather looked like. She said Surjeet was clean-shaven when he "went missing" in 1982. "Unhanu meetha bahot pasand hai, ate unha layee kheer banaiyi hain" (he has a sweet tooth. So, we have cooked his favourite kheer), she said.

After paying obeisance at the Golden Temple, Surjeet (Makhan Singh in his village) was taken in a convoy of cars by jubilant villagers. In his house, he was greeted by his partially paralysed younger sister, Kapoora, tears rolling down her face.

On Sarabjit Singh, a death row terror convict, Surjeet said: "We both were in Kot Lakhpat Jail. He is absolutely fine, though he has been kept in a solitary confinement." He said he met Sarabjit once in a week, but was not allowed to meet him in the morning today. He said Sarabjit did not send any message for his family.

Surjeet attributed the confusion on the release of Sarabjit to a spelling mistake. "In Urdu language, the spelling of Surjeet and Sarabjit is almost similar," he said.

Surjeet was arrested by Pak rangers near the International Border on the charges of spying in 1982. He was awarded the death sentence under the Pakistan Army Act in 1985. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1989 by then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

His release came after human rights activist and lawyer Awais Sheikh petitioned the Lahore High Court seeking his release since he had already served his life sentence.

The Pakistan government sent a basket of sweets along with Surjeet. The sweets were from A. Rehman Malik, adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Security.