Where are our missing soldiers?

Last week, Pakistan released 198 Indians from its prisons as a ‘goodwill gesture’. Hundreds more, who had unwittingly crossed the unmarked Indo-Pak maritime boundary to catch fish, continue to languish in a Karachi jail, despite having completed their sentence long ago. But what about our 84 soldiers who went missing during the 1965 and 1971 wars and in peace time?

Three years ago, Bimapalathi Bhattacharjee, aged 91, breathed his last, with his son’s name on his lips. On the night of 19-20 April 1997, Capt. Sanjit Bhattacharjee of 7/8 Gorkha Rifles went missing, along with Lance Naik Ram Bahadur Thapa, somewhere along the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat, while carrying out reconnaissance duties. A few days later, radio communication intercepts indicated that two Indian soldiers were taken to the outskirts of Hyderabad in Sindh for interrogation.

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Ever since, Capt. Sanjit’s family has been running from pillar to post to ascertain his whereabouts. Several Defence Ministers and Army Chiefs promised assistance, but nothing much happened. Eventually, in 2005, the President of India and the Army Chief sent condolence letters to his mother, indicating that her son had probably died, and enabling her to claim pensionary benefits.

The issue of missing Indian defence personnel (MIDPs) is raised in Parliament frequently. Family members of some MIDPs even travelled to some Pakistani prisons in search of their loved ones but came back empty-handed. Numerous articles and books have been written on the issue. In September 2022, the Supreme Court even directed the government to inform Capt. Sanjit’s mother, on a quarterly basis, about the progress made to trace his whereabouts.

Meanwhile, on a request from a friend and ex-Army officer, I have made three RTI interventions since 2021 to seek details about MIDPs. Since 2008, under a bilateral consular access agreement, India and Pakistan exchange lists of prisoners of each other’s nationalities in January and July every year. Our Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also puts out a press note about this information exchange. While the primary focus is on the demand for releasing civilian and fishermen prisoners, one line is thrown in on the issue of missing MIDPs. However, the government has repeatedly told Parliament that Pakistan refuses to acknowledge the existence of any MIDP in its custody.

In 2021, after two successive RTI interventions, I got from our MEA and Army HQ the complete list of our soldiers who went missing in the two wars and during peace time. The two MIDPs missing since 1997 figure on this list. So, for diplomatic purposes, the government continues to treat them as being alive.

Earlier this year, I sought a list of missing Pakistani soldiers that Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry claims to have given to India. Our MEA rejected this request saying that it was information received in confidence from a foreign government! Records of efforts being made to secure the release of MIDPs were also labelled sarkari secrets on national security grounds.

This is perhaps the first official admission ever, albeit indirect, about India receiving a list of missing Pakistani soldiers. Our government has always maintained that it released all captured soldiers soon after the two wars ended. But Pakistan seems to think otherwise.

Can the two governments not clear the air once and for all as a confidence-building measure? Either release the missing soldiers if they are still alive or tell the families how and when they died and where their remains were disposed of. On both sides of the border, the families deserve to be reunited with their loved ones, or at least obtain closure.

Venkatesh Nayak wakes up every morning thinking someone somewhere is hiding something.