Wagah (Amritsar), Sept 08: Sixteen Indian youth, who languished in Pakistani prisons for two to three years, returned home today to an emotional reunion with their family members narrating tales of woe in jails and alleging Indian government's indifference towards detenues in that country. The youth from Punjab and Haryana, most of whom were duped by travel agents and taken abroad in return for promises of jobs nearly five years ago, were accompanied upto the border by officials of Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
The youth, who spent prison terms ranging from one and half to three years in jails after being pushed from Lebanon, Turkey, Iran and eventually to Pakistan, told mediapersons about the abominable conditions of Indians in prisons of Pakistan.
Narrating his two-year experience in Kot Lakhpatrai jail in Pakistan, Harwinder Singh said "more than 30 Indians have lost their mental balance with all their hopes to come out of prison dashed as Indian government was hardly concerned of their home-coming."
Harwinder Singh, a resident of Hoshiarpur, claimed there were nearly 135 Indian prisoners languishing in the prison for the last seven to nine years and of them 30 had gone "insane" and 12 died in the past few years "as I have learnt from the other Indian inmates in the jail".
Singh said "numerous Indian prisoners in various jails hold Indian government accountable for their illegal confinement in Pakistan jails since most of them have completed their sentence but remain there because Indian authorities were allegedly not willing to confirm their Indian antecedents or Indian nationality".
Bureau Report