“Hapless Prisoners and Inhuman Indian Games”

dr m anwar

          The psychological injuries disgracefully inflicted upon defenseless detainees and foreign prisoners leave permanent scars in their memories. Maltreatment and torturous detention provides windfall to vengeance and fillip to brutal instincts. Resultantly the peace efforts between the belligerent states like India and Pakistan quickly get spoiled turning the edgy atmosphere into more tense and panicky. Thus misgivings, mistrust and mischief shape the social ambiance and political tone. Consequently the human sufferings continue unabated.

          The borders between India and Pakistan are unmanageable, porous and scarcely sealed. It is a common phenomenon to see cattle hawkers and laborers to lose direction and fall into alien land. Such unintentional crossings of international border are due to human oversight, but Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) and officials do not allow the benefit of doubt to Pakistanis caught under such situations. They put them behind bars and register fake cases against them in Indian courts, thus showing their competence and vigilance to merit for military awards and service incentives including out of turn promotions / monetary benefits. On the other hand Pakistan has always taken a lenient view of such incidents by allowing Indians to move back to their native land. Why Indians do not reciprocate in the same spirit is a question which finds answers in Indian deep rooted animosity towards Pakistan.

          In fact hate Pakistan notions and gestures fetch Indian nationals exalted appreciation of their political leadership. Hence the poor Indians keep on proving their loyalties to their Brahman Hindus (masters) by producing false evidence against innocent Pakistanis caught by Indian Security Forces on alleged unauthorized entry into India. They also resort to gruesome coercive methods to torture, rape, humiliate / disgrace and intimidate the Pakistani detainees to pressurize them to accept / plead guilty of crimes never committed by them against the government or people of India. Indian Judicial System is blind enough to see beyond the evidence collected through coercion and torturous techniques of investigation and therefore most of the innocent Pakistanis have been sentenced to prolonged jail terms. This includes children, women, elderly sick people and innocent civilians. They remain under rigorous terms of Indian jails without the knowledge of outside world, including the government of Pakistan and their families. The psychological trauma for such prisoners of fortune is beyond one’s imagination and most of them lose their mental balance, general orientation and identification as Pakistanis.

     On completion of jail terms Pakistani prisoners have not been released from the Indian jails disregarding the provisions of Indian constitution and court orders. Recently Indian Supreme Court had to issue orders stressing upon the government of India to immediately release 16 Pakistani prisoners who had completed their jail terms. The apex court had noticed that despite its clear instructions the government of India was not releasing Pakistani prisoners on the plea that it was a political matter and that India has to ask Pakistan to release Indian prisoners as a matter of political bargain between the two countries. As Indian government has been forced by the apex court to release Pakistani prisoners who have completed their jail terms, Indian officials and media are capitalizing on the issue by politicizing it that India is releasing Pakistani prisoners. 

          There are media reports that many more innocent Pakistanis are still illegally detained in different prisons in India including Agra, Jodhpur, Naini, Sangrur, Varanasi and Tihar. They are neither being produced before the courts nor allowed to proceed home as there is no evidence of their involvement in any criminal case. Indian BSF, police and other officials derive pleasure and psychological satisfaction by keeping Pakistani prisoners in their illegal detention. Moreover Indian political predisposition and social order deliberately propagate the idea of “hate Pakistan”. Resultantly expressing any human concerns for Pakistani nationals especially for innocent prisoners is considered a sign of disloyalty in India. Indian designs and habit formation to play games with innocent prisoners at the cost of “Pakistan hostility” will one day prove harmful for Indian unity.