Condemnation of contrived murder of an Indian convict in Kot Lakhpat prison of Pakistan in strongest words is too feeble a reaction either from the Indian official circles or the Indian nation. In our neighbourhood on the west, stands a lawless country with a regime which can neither act nor assert. For half of its life, Pakistan has been ruled by the army in most arbitrary manner. But sensing that its control of civilian power structure is coming under more and more criticism of civil society, the Army has raised the terrorist militia as the organ to run on its behalf and carry forward its masked anti-India agenda. The so-called “democratic” civilian government has become a laughing stock trusted by none and despised by all.
Sarabjeet Singh’s murder contrived, by Pakistani intelligence agency through some of its convicted conduits, on their tacit prompting, is a slap on the face of the civil administration and the authority of the Head of the State who had, in a presidential order stayed his execution. Having spent 23 years in Pakistani jails and having obtained stay of his execution from the Head of the State that had brought the charge against him, entitled Sarabjeet to freedom and release from Pakistani prison. The Pakistani intelligence oligarchs scuttled the orders of their President and conspired to finish Sarabjeet Singh.
We the Indians have to understand that we have a barbarian state in our neighbourhood on the west. This barbarian state understands one and only one language, which, unfortunately India would not want to speak. But a democracy being the rule of the people, the day is not far off when the Indian Government will have to carefully re-evaluate its policy towards Pakistan and actively maintained by some Western powers that want the Asian Continent to be the world’s boiling pot till they are able to deplete it of its resources. We fail to understand the sense of talking international language to this roguish and lawless country.
Sarbjeet’s barbaric treatment and killing has opened the can of worms. India has formally raised the issue of fifty-four prisoners of 1971 war languishing in Pakistani jails and has demanded their return to their native land. No sooner had the former President announced in Agra that there was no Indian prisoner in their jails, Pakistani print and electronic media gave out the names of Indian POWs languishing in different jails of Pakistan. Why did not India raise that issue so far with Pakistan is a question which Indian State shall have to explain to her people. There is credible evidence with the kith and kin of the “disappeared” Indian POW and others to prove that the victims are not “disappeared” but are very much existent in Pakistani prisons. Will the Government of India approach world bodies, leading NGOs, human rights activists and organizations, and above all the law makers in westerner countries to impress upon the rogue state of Pakistan to strictly observe Geneva Convention on POWs and international law and human rights code in the case of 54 Indian POWs in Pakistan?
How India has been observing the terms of Geneva Convention and other compendium of rights in letter and spirit is strongly reflected in her treatment of 93,000 Pakistani POWs in Bangladesh war. India had gone a few steps further in treating those prisoners with dignity and compassion. This is what scores of those prisoners including their senior officers said and wrote in their memoirs. This stands in stark contrast to Pakistan’s treatment of Indian POWs (1971) and soldiers guarding the frontier. In the case of an Indian convict attacking a Pakistani fellow convict in Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu in the follow up of Sarabjeet’s murder in Lakhpat, authorities moved within minutes. The jail Superintended with five of her officers has been put under immediate suspension, an FIR lodged is and an enquiry has been ordered which has already begun its investigation. The Home Ministry has issued urgent directives to all states that their prison authorities should ensure safety of the convicts in their jails especially the Pakistani nationals. The official spokesman of External Affairs Ministry formally said that attack on a Pakistani convict in Jammu prison was unacceptable. As against this, nothing was done by Pakistani Government in the case of Sarabjeet. It is only now that Sarabjeet is no more reports say that Pakistan government has constituted a 2-member committee to investigate the killing of Sarabjeet.
The nation is paying its homage to a great and valiant son of the soil. His dead body has been given state funeral and top political leaders came to pay homage to the departed hero when his sister lit the pyre. Punjab Government has declared him national hero. This public response will and must have its impact on Indo-Pak relationship. Voices have already been raised to suspend all relations with Pakistan and close down road connectivity and business transactions with this rogue country. At the same time, there is public resentment against New Delhi why it did not put all pressure on Pakistan at right time and mobilize international opinion against possible physical harm to Sarabjeet Singh. We will not go into the compulsions of the Central Government, but there was scope for taking the nation into confidence on the issue.
Be that what it may, the question now is how is India going to deal with its neighbouring country, who loses no opportunity of inflicting wounds on the body of the nation? Let us remind our leadership the words uttered by Sarabjeet’s brave and courageous sister Dalbir Kaur while bidding farewell to her martyred brother. She said that crores of patriotic Sarabjeets, the followers of Martyr Bhagat Singh, will rise to defend the honour and safety of this nation. Mind you! Heed the words, these could become prophetic.
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