War prisoner’s daughter to protest in Delhi on Aug 10
TARN TARAN: 1971 Indo-Pak war prisoner Balwinder Singh’s daughter was here at an event on Saturday. Baljinder Kaur, 45, whose father is lodged in Pakistan’s Kot Lakhpat Jail, said she will protest, for her father’s release, in New Delhi at Janatar Mantar on August 10.
Baljinder has been campaigning for her father’s release from past two years. Baljinder had also raised the issue with external affairs minister, Sushma Sawraj, demanding the release of all 74 prisoners from Pakistan’s jail. “I met Sawraj at New Delhi but instead of assuring me to take action, she asked me to wait for improvement in IndiaPakistan’s bilateral relations,” she said.
She said, “My father and other prisoners have been famishing there sice a long time now but the central government is turning a blind eye towards the matter.” She claimed that the 74 Indian soldiers were made captive by the Pakistan Army during the 1971 war.
She said, “The government will celebrate 70th Independence Day. But soldiers who served the country have been living in a terrible condition. The country should first come out to help in the release of the Indian soldiers.”
“By neglecting them, the government is playing with the sentiments of the soldier families’,” she said.
She said, “I will protest at Jantar Mantar till the government does not put efforts in releasing the prisoners of war.”
Balwinder Singh was a Sepoy in the Sikh Regiment and posted at Barmer district of Rajasthan during 1971 Indo-Pak war.
‘NEVER SAW MY FATHER’
According to Balwinder Singh’s daughter, she has not seen her father since her birth . She said, “My father came home for his marriage in 1971. He received a call about the initiation of IndoPak war and reported back. He was not there when I was born.”
A ray of hope emerged in 2015, when we received a message from an Indian prisoner, released by Pakistan goverment, that my father is lodged at Kot Lakhpat Jail, she said.