Pathankot: 90 days on, kin yet to hear from son missing on ‘donkey route’

Ravi Dhaliwal

Pathankot, February 29

In the last three months, ever since his son went missing, he has been reduced to a forlorn figure of his former self. The father believes miracles do happen and has his sights firmly fixed on the door.

This, in essence, sums up the condition of Joginder Singh (60) whose son Jagmeet Singh has gone missing in the jungles of Panama on his way to the US through the ‘donkey’ route.

There are many variants of this illegal route and one is to reach the US after meandering through Panama’s dreaded jungles. Sources say not many boys survive if they are made to stay there by agents for more than a week. Sickness sets in your body and deadly snakes are ready to devour you.

The son was so smitten by the ‘American dream’ that he convinced his father, a retired lower-rung revenue official, to pay Rs 45 lakh to a Kahnuwan based travel agent couple. They paid Rs 15 lakh as upfront money.

On November 26, with stars in his eyes, the journey into darkness for Jagmeet commenced. His father had stuffed 5,000 dollars into his pocket “just in case something went wrong.” 24 hours later, the family received a call from the agent that their son had reached Delhi airport and was all set to board a flight to the US. Minutes later, another call was received and this time it was Jagmeet who told his parents that the agent was forcing him to fly to Panama.

The calls suddenly stopped coming. Then on December 19, hopes were rekindled when the phone rang. Sobbing inconsolably, Jagmeet sent his family his location which turned out to be a place somewhere in the Panama jungles. That was the last conversation the father and son had. Later, Jagmeet’s phone battery died rendering him incommunicado.

The family holds regular rituals in which prayers are held for Jagmeet’s safe return. Nobody knows whether the prayers will bear fruit or not.