A ray of hope for Indian prisioners in Pakistan
Positive step
With the intervention of Lahore High Court in Pakistan, there is yet hope among the family of Indian prisoners languishing in the jails of the neighbouring country that they would soon be back home.
Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Ijaz Chaudhary on Monday directed the Punjab government in Pakistan to furnish the details of all Indian nationals who have completed their sentence but have not been released and repatriated to India for different reasons.
A petition was filed by Pakistan-based advocate Awais Sheikh for the release of two Indians—36-year-old Satinder Pal Singh and 58-year-old Bhanudas Vitthal Karale—asking for their release from the Lahore Central Jail as they have completed their prison terms.
Satinder Pal Singh’s family, belonging to Punjab’s Pathankot district, had no clue to his whereabouts since 2005 until they received a letter from the jail authorities informing them that he was indeed lodged in the Kot Lakhpat jail.
Satinder’s brother-in-law Paramjit Singh, who is settled in Haridwar in Uttarakhand and runs a grocery shop, said he has been living in Dubai since 1999. He was asked to return home following his father’s death. However, he went missing in 2005.
“He used to visit the family each year until 2005, after which the family had learnt (in 2010) that he was still in Pakistan jail after completing his sentence and was not released and repatriated,” he said.
Bhanudas Vitthal Karale, 58, from Aman Nagar in Maharashtra, went missing about two years ago and his family learnt about his jail terms on August 15, last year, when they received a letter from Central Jail in Pakistan.
Awais Sheikh, counsel of the two prisoners, said their family members had sent their identity details from India and he hoped that the petition will hand over their freedom to them. Karale’s nephew Nitin said they had approached their elected representatives for securing the release of their loved one, but to no avail. Nitin said they took up the matter with Sheikh who is now pursuing the case in the Lahore High Court.
