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Kashmir Singh denies statement on being spy
HOSHIARPUR (PUNJAB): Kashmir Singh, who returned to India recently after spending 35 years in Pakistan jails, on Saturday went back on his statement on Friday that he was a spy.
Singh said that the media had distorted his statement made at a press conference in Chandigarh on Friday on his working for the government in seventies.
At the Meet-the-Press programme in Chandigarh on Friday, he had admitted to having worked as a spy and also blamed government agencies for not having looked after his family after his arrest in Pakistan.
But on Saturday he said his statement was distorted. Singh declined to give any details of his working for the government.
"I did not give the statement of my being a spy," he said.
Answering a question he declined that he was retracting on Friday's statement under pressure. "There was no pressure on me to withdraw the statement," he added.
His childhood friend Gurmit Chand Bhardwaj, a former Joint Director of News in AIR, said in Chandigarh that Singh maintains that he worked for the government.
Bhardwaj also said that Pakistan Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney, who had played a key role in the release of Singh, also rang up and talked to Singh today seeking clarifications on his spy statement.
Singh was stated to have worked for the army and for the Punjab Police as a constable.
Link - Kashmir Singh denies statement on being spy-India-The Times of India
Video - I was not a spy: Kashmir Singh-News-Broadband - Indiatimes.com
I just posted the latest update. He may get more compensation and sympathy if he proves he was a spy and his family was neglected. Which I do not see as his intent he was infact sentenced to death in Pakistan for spying, Would'nt pakistan extracted confession from him if he was a spy?
Media distorts the news.
Where did you get the figure of Rs4 lakh per spying activity ? would'nt he or his family be rich? I hear his wife was a maid servent. Please post the link, you have better access as a Journalist
Media would go great lengths for distorting the news he has gained much sympathy and Publicity in India, People believe he was wrongly convicted in Pakistan.
Why would he claim to be spy ? Wouldn't he spoil the chance of remaining Indian in Pakistani jails which even he claims to know ?
Any way I just posted media link which was contradictory to previously aired news. Everyone can have their opinion.
So you are dis-owning him as one of your own.I just posted the latest update. He may get more compensation and sympathy if he proves he was a spy and his family was neglected. Which I do not see as his intent he was infact sentenced to death in Pakistan for spying, Would'nt pakistan extracted confession from him if he was a spy?
Media distorts the news.
Chandigarh (PTI): Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday announced a pension of Rs 5,000 per month each to Kashmir Singh and wife Parmajit Kaur in recognition of his "outstanding services" towards the nation.
Singh, who was convicted on the charges of espionage and was sentenced to death in Pakistan, had been released recently after he was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf following 35 years of imprisonment.
Calling him a "national hero", Badal also promised to grant government job to one eligible dependent of Kashmir Singh, who has a physically-challenged son.
To fulfill his promise, Badal suggested that Punjab government would make an exception for Kashmir Singh to exempt him from the government rules in this regard.
The Chief Minister also announced to bear the entire expenditure for the construction of a house for Kashmir Singh and his family over a plot donated by his media advisor in Mahilpur.
The chief minister and his wife also honoured the couple with a shawl and a garland on the occasion and assured full support and cooperation to them on behalf of the Punjab government.
News reports in India say a man who spent 35 years in Pakistani prisons on spying charges before his release this week has admitted that he was a secret agent.
The Press Trust of India news agency Friday quotes Kashmir Singh as saying that he did his duty to serve India as a spy in Pakistan. But, speaking in the northern city of Chandigarh, the capital of India's Punjab state, Singh criticized successive Indian governments, saying they did not take care of his family following his arrest in 1973.
The news agency says Singh declined to name which Indian government agency employed him, or how he entered Pakistan. But it says he also criticized the government for failing to help other Indian prisoners in various Pakistani jails.
Singh, who is in his 60s, returned to India Tuesday, a day after Pakistani authorities freed him on humanitarian grounds.
Singh was convicted of spying and sentenced to death by a military court after his 1973 arrest. Pakistani authorities later stayed his execution, and his case languished.
Pakistani Minister for Human Rights Ansar Burney played a key role in his release.
Singh's release follows a gradual improvement in ties between India and Pakistan since the South Asian rivals launched a peace process in 2004.
Since then, the two neighbors have restored transportation links and sporting and cultural contacts. India and Pakistan also have held a series of prisoner exchanges in recent years.
"I am shocked to hear these statements," said Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights Ansar Burney, the official who worked for Singh's release.
"It will surely make it difficult for Indian prisoners in Pakistan and Pakistani prisoners in India," he told CNN-IBN
ABC News: Indian's Confession Disconcerts PakistanOn Saturday, Singh was trying to undo the damage of his loose talk, telling the private Indian news channel CNN-IBN that his comments were misinterpreted and he had not actually been a spy. But his credibility was in doubt.
A fairly stupid move of bravado by Mr. Singh...its going to bite in the *** all the Indian and Pakistanis held in each others jails.