Pakistan says no Indian POW in Pakistan

[EagleEyes]

Pakistan says no Indian POW in Pakistan

There is no Indian prisoner of war in Pakistani jails, said Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam Monday.

Aslam was replying to questions at her weekly press briefing about the visit of some Indian families to Pakistan from June 1.

She said these families were impressing upon their government for a visit to Pakistan and the visit was taking place at the request of the Indian Government to assuage worries of these families.

"They have been allowed to visit ten Pakistani jails," she said.

She said that more important was the issue of civilian prisoners and there was need to activate the judicial committees agreed upon by the two sides to resolve the problem.

On the issue of Kashmir, Aslam rejected an assertion that the latest Kashmir report of the European Parliament nullified the United Nations Security Council resolutions about plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to decide its fate.

She said that European Parliament had no mandate to do that and only the UN Security Council could revise its resolutions.

She said the report had widely been amended but it was not balanced and still carried inaccuracies.

She said Kashmiris all over the world had rejected the report.

http://english.people.com.cn/200705/29/eng20070529_378684.html

 

[EagleEyes]

Why are they not convinced? Still believing that their soldiers are alive when they were killed by ours 30 years ago? :-/

 

[Officer of Engineers]

Hope against hope that your loved ones are still alive

 

[Interceptor]

Maybe those soldiers dont know that the war is over, I remember being told that soldiers from the second world war were still hidding a decade after the war, from the germans because they though the war was not over in sicily and else where. The soldiers were traumatized and had to get administered medical for many years before they could live there normal lifes.

 

[EagleEyes]

^ I dont know if i should laugh or cry!

 

[overseer]

Why are they not convinced? Still believing that their soldiers are alive when they were killed by ours 30 years ago? :-/

Maybe because they are doing it themselves. They probably still kept a number of Pakistani POWs in Indian prison somewhere. As they have did it previously to chinese.


Case in point :

"In 2001,there were reports that India had actually taken 2 prisoners during the war, Yang Chen and Shih Liang. They were not released at the conclusion of the war. Instead, the two were imprisoned as spies for three years before being interned in a mental asylum in Ranchi, where they spent the next 38 years under a special prisoner status. After their case was reported on by local journalists, the Indian government took actions to release them. After the Chinese government investigated the case, it lobbyed for the release of the two men. Both men, now well into their 60's, have since been reunited with their families in Sichuan."

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030727-104257-8893r.htm

Also to note, China had return ALL Indian prisoners at the conclusion of 1962 war. Including their weapons, vehicles..etc back in 1962.

 

[MirBadshah]

<inappropriate>

Such demand from our neighbours are realy outrageous!

 

[Interceptor]

Indian familes seek POWs in Pakistan

By RAJESH MAHAPATRA, Associated Press WriterFri Jun 1, 6:11 AM ET

A group of Indian families is traveling Friday to Pakistan, where they will visit jails and scan their records, looking for traces of relatives in the military who went missing during the 1971 war between the south Asian rivals.

Chances are remote that they will find any of the 54 men from the Indian army and air force who went missing in action more than three decades ago.

The Indian government has repeatedly raised the issue with the Pakistani government, which says it has no Indian prisoners of war.

Family members remain hopeful, however.

"I have a hope that I will come back with him," said Nirmal Kaur, whose husband Assa Singh was among those missing.

Kaur and 13 others are expected to visit 10 Pakistani jails, look through their records and meet other Indian prisoners during a two-week visit to Pakistan, a defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Defense Minister A.K. Anthony, who met the family members in New Delhi on Thursday, said the government would not give up efforts.

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said earlier this year that his government was ready to open the country's prisons to the families of the Indian soldiers.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. Both sides routinely hold hundreds of civilians in prisons — mostly fishermen and farmers — for crossing illegally into each other's territory. Many of them have been released in recent years as part of peace initiatives to end their longtime rivalry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601...1&printer=1;_ylt=Asnr9pxTxwaorX4iqX3hQEj9xg8F

 

[Interceptor]

Indians seek missing in Pakistan jails

by Parul GuptaFri Jun 1, 5:58 AM ET

It has been 36 years since her husband went missing during the war between India and Pakistan, but Damayanti Tambay has not given up hope.

"I can imagine that everyone must be saying we are such fools," said Tambay, a sports official at India's elite Jawaharlal Nehru University.

"But we are just not comfortable living without knowing what happened to our people."

Tambay was one of 14 Indians headed across the border on Friday to visit jails across Pakistan, looking for relatives they believe may still be behind bars since the 1971 war.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied that it holds any Indian prisoners of war, but some families say they have heard of their relatives in jail from other Indian civilians who had been imprisoned there.

"We want a proper closure of the issue," said Tambay, who had only been married for 18 months when she lost touch with her husband. She said a relative told her two decades ago that he had seen her husband alive in a Pakistan jail.

"It may or may not be true, but the mind believes what it wants to believe," the 59-year-old said.

"Even if we find one person it vindicates our stand -- or else we can say we tried our best."

Tambay has campaigned for years to put pressure on the Indian government to find out about 54 missing Indians that many believe are in Pakistan.

She is making her second trip after visiting a Pakistani jail -- only one, she said -- in 1983. The group will spend two weeks touring 10 jails and talking to civilian Indian prisoners on a "fact-finding" mission.

"There are no Indian prisoners of war in Pakistan. However, at the repeated requests of the Indian government, we have some Indian families to visit," Pakistan's foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said this week.

"We want this visit to be transparent. We have nothing to hide."

The 1971 conflict was the third war between India and Pakistan, and led to the creation of Bangladesh, which was then East Pakistan. They have been engaged in a peace process since 2004 but relations remain tense.

Another woman making the trip across the border, 70-year-old Nirmal Kour, said the Indian army informed her that her husband Assa Singh had died in the war -- but said she later heard of his capture through radio news.

"My spirits were lifted when two people told me they had seen Assa in jail," Kour said. She last heard of her husband being alive in 1988.

Kour said that she would carry pictures of Singh's relatives, in case she met her husband and he did not recognise her.

"I can show him pictures of his father, mother and grandparents."

Tambay said she was making the trip with an open mind, and that she would help look for those whose relatives were not travelling with her.

But more than anything, she would like to find the man she fell in love with almost four decades ago.

"It's my love for him that keeps me going," she said. "I haven't felt anything less for him since the war than what I felt for him then."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2007060...0&printer=1;_ylt=AomCIQBDdzTcdyGGtJgcCeLuOrgF

 

[Awesome]

I'll go far as hoping that some of them DO find that one lost soul and can be repatriated with their families.

We should make sure that we have a well documenting system in place for POWs in all future wars. POWs should be granted all their rights according to intl. law. They are not bad guys generally, just following orders.

 

[dabong1]

Maybe because they are doing it themselves. They probably still kept a number of Pakistani POWs in Indian prison somewhere. As they have did it previously to chinese.


Case in point :

"In 2001,there were reports that India had actually taken 2 prisoners during the war, Yang Chen and Shih Liang. They were not released at the conclusion of the war. Instead, the two were imprisoned as spies for three years before being interned in a mental asylum in Ranchi, where they spent the next 38 years under a special prisoner status. After their case was reported on by local journalists, the Indian government took actions to release them. After the Chinese government investigated the case, it lobbyed for the release of the two men. Both men, now well into their 60's, have since been reunited with their families in Sichuan."

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030727-104257-8893r.htm

Also to note, China had return ALL Indian prisoners at the conclusion of 1962 war. Including their weapons, vehicles..etc back in 1962.

I see your point but the blame and punishment must be put on the indian regime and not on some poor soldiers who where just carrying out orders.
If there are indian soldiers in pakistani prisons then i hope they are released. From what i recall a couple of years ago this effort came to zero after the pak govt went through its records and asked all prison officers to report to them any indians soldiers still in prison and the conclusion was that there was nobody.
I think it is more the hope of the families that there love ones are still alive that this has surfaced in the media again.

 

[Venkat]

In most cases it would be wishful thinking of the families. I have been told there may only be two or three genuine cases where the families may think otherwise. other than that all the other cases are hope against hope

But one cannot blame the families. There was a very recent example of two Indian soldiers who were repatriated after four or five years in pakistan custody. Theyhad strayed across teh border just after the Kargil fighting and were put in jail. One was a muslim the other was a hindu. Somehow even the Pakistani govt missed their status , but they were released once it became known.

The Indian govt , not knowing the circumstances of their capture had initially declared them as deserters but gave htem their full status after repatriation. Sadly during the five years much has changed with their families. the wife of one soldier had remarried , she had since been 'given back' to the released pow by some declarations from the local imam - but again an unfortunate piece of bad luck, died due to some illness.

If such a case could happen now in the 2000s can anyone blame the families from thinking it could have happened in 1971?

 

[Awesome]

In most cases it would be wishful thinking of the families. I have been told there may only be two or three genuine cases where the families may think otherwise. other than that all the other cases are hope against hope

But one cannot blame the families. There was a very recent example of two Indian soldiers who were repatriated after four or five years in pakistan custody. Theyhad strayed across teh border just after the Kargil fighting and were put in jail. One was a muslim the other was a hindu. Somehow even the Pakistani govt missed their status , but they were released once it became known.

The Indian govt , not knowing the circumstances of their capture had initially declared them as deserters but gave htem their full status after repatriation. Sadly during the five years much has changed with their families. the wife of one soldier had remarried , she had since been 'given back' to the released pow by some declarations from the local imam - but again an unfortunate piece of bad luck, died due to some illness.

If such a case could happen now in the 2000s can anyone blame the families from thinking it could have happened in 1971?

Tragic indeed. I hope they were honestly searched for in our prisons.