After 29 yrs in Pakistan jail, Kathua man returns

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 20

Kathua resident Kuldeep Singh, claiming to be a spy, is happy to return after 29 years of imprisonment, but he also feels dejected. “I was languishing in Pakistan jail for the past 29 years. What the Indian Government did for us? It simply abandoned me,” he rues.

Kuldeep Singh (53) was among two prisoners released by Pakistan on Monday. After repatriation, they reached Red Cross Bhavan at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here late in the evening. He said he suffered torture for three years at the hands of Pakistan agencies before he was produced in a court for espionage which ultimately sent him to 25 years of imprisonment.

He was arrested in 1992, but his family came to know about his whereabouts when he was shifted to jail after four years and he posted a letter to his family members informing them that he was in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail.

“For the past eight years, I am not in touch with my family due to restriction in Pakistan jail following the killing of Sarabjit Singh,” he said while adding that they were kept in separate barracks.

He said he would fight for justice in the court as the government and the Army did nothing for him or for his family in these 29 years. The government should compensate the spies who risk their lives for the country, he said.

According to him, 20 Indians were languishing in Pakistan jails waiting for their release and some of them had lost their mental balance.

The other prisoner was Mohammad Gufran of Aurangabad, who had inadvertently crossed into Pakistan from Kargil three years ago.