Oh but if WE aint that important then what were people like Balbir and Kashmir Singh doing in Pakistan? Your in denial my friend;
AFP: Indian former spies come in from cold to seek compensation
Jun 12, 2008
MAHAL, India (AFP) Balbir Singh says he thought he was serving India and would be hailed as a hero when he became a spy.
But now he's fighting in the Indian courts to make legal history and win compensation for 10 years spent in a Pakistani jail after being caught and convicted.
Singh is among several dozen former "secret agents" or informers who have launched similar court cases against the Indian government demanding payouts ranging from 500,000 to 800,000 rupees (12,500 to 20,000 dollars).
"I'd have been happy to die in a Pakistan jail. At least I'd have died a martyr," said Singh, 58, the father of two teenagers.
Around 100 former "spies" live in three districts of northern Punjab state bordering Pakistan, according to rights activists.
It is impossible to know how many spies are recruited every year as India officially denies spying on its nuclear-armed neighbour with which it has fought three wars.
But their hopes for recognition and compensation have been spurred in recent months after two cases involving Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails put the spotlight on former secret agents.
In March, Indian prisoner Kashmir Singh, who spent 35 years on death row in Pakistan after being convicted of espionage, was pardoned and returned home to northern Punjab state to a hero's welcome -- and confirmed he had been a spy.
Last month, the hanging of another prisoner, Sarabjit Singh, over a 1990 bombing in Lahore that killed four people was postponed indefinitely. Singh's family denies his role in the bombing and says he was not a spy.
"Spying is an endless game. It goes on uninterrupted, even when the situation is normal," said Maloy Krishna Dhar, a former joint director of India's Intelligence Bureau.
"The 25-mile (15-kilometre) area from the border is always a strategic concern for armed forces for which shallow penetration agents are needed," he said.
"Shallow penetration agents" are hired to find out details about military movements as well as the construction of dams, bunkers and canals along the border, and similar plans that cannot be determined with the use of satellites.
The men in Punjab's border areas are hired through word of mouth. Some, such as Balbir Singh, seek out intelligence officials to get hired, lawyers say.
"Many of them are nationalistic and highly motivated," said lawyer Ranjan Lahkhanpal, who is representing Balbir Singh.
Other former spies are in the process of launching cases.
One is Mohinder Singh, 61, whose bitterness is evident in his face, which contorts with anger as he talks about his days in a Pakistani jail.
"There it was just confinement, but what we face here is injustice," said the rickshaw puller, sentenced to seven years in jail in Pakistan for illegally crossing the border after escorting Indian spies.
"Two years of my sentence were dropped, but I spent 10 extra years in jail because the Indian government did not approve my repatriation," he said.
Mohinder Singh, who returned in 1986, is relying on the testimony of other spies whom he escorted across the border.
Balbir Singh says he has documents from Pakistani jail authorities proving he was incarcerated, and shows a letter from an official of India's intelligence agency saying he was hired to spy.
The authenticity of the documents and his claims could not be officially verified.
"No one can ever identify who recruited them. The burden of proof rests on the spy to show he was recruited," said ex-intelligence official Dhar.
Balbir Singh now works as a security guard, earning 2,500 rupees (about 60 dollars) a month. He was among dozens of people who went to greet former prisoner Kashmir Singh when he crossed into India.
The two men were hired for the same mission and arrested together as they travelled by bus in Pakistan, where they had been sent to bribe a military clerk and obtain a classified document, according to Balbir Singh.
While Kashmir got a death sentence, Balbir was sentenced to 10 years in prison and was freed in 1986.
"The Pakistan clerk confessed and we were caught. I was given an electric shock on my genitals in jail," Balbir Singh said at his home in Mahal village.
Despite India's refusal to admit that it spies on Pakistan, lawyers for the alleged ex-spies say they're hopeful of getting compensation thanks to the media attention they have received since Kashmir Singh's release.
"Even though there's no proof here, many people have orders from Pakistan courts that they were held under the Official Secrets Act," said lawyer Lakhanpal, who is representing 35 former spies in the Punjab High court.
"The courts cannot turn down this proof," he said.
