PoW’s family appeals to Imran Khan to release those languishing in Pakistan jails
JAMMU: At a time when India and Pakistan have announced to open the corridor to Kartarpur in Pakistan for Sikh pilgrims, the family of a prisoner of the 1971 IndoPak war has appealed to Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan to release all 54 prisoners of war (PoWs) languishing in jails of the neigbouring country.
Subedar Assa Singh of Jammu’s Nanak Nagar is believed to be among 54 Indian soldiers who were taken PoWs during the 1971 war. His wife Nirmal Kaur said, “Since both the countries are keen on opening the Kartarpur corridor, the PMs of two countries should exhibit generosity and release the PoWs. We have been waiting for him to return home.”
“We heard over radio about the 54 PoWs and then one of them, AK Suri, also wrote a letter to his father mentioning about 54 Indian soldiers in Pakistan. A man from Punjab, who was also lodged in a Pak jail, told us that he had met my husband,” she said.
“He also told us that my husband, who was ill at that time, narrated his woes to him telling that Assa belonged to Jammu’s Nanak Nagar. In 1988, another man from Bhogalpur told us about my husband in a Pak prison,” she said. Kaur, who faced a tough times raising her seven kids while working as maid, said all her efforts over the years proved futile.
“We tried to meet the then PM Manmohan Singh and took out rallies in Delhi and Amritsar. We also went to Pakistan in 2008 . We were taken to some jails but we could not find him anywhere,” she said.