Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 16: India’s goodwill gesture of returning Pakistan Army jawan’s body with full respects within 24 hours of his killing on the Line of Control (LoC) at Lam in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district notwithstanding, Pakistan hasn’t yet returned the body of a civilian hailing from Pargwal island of Akhnoor tehsil, who was killed in a Lahore jail allegedly by the jail staff and some inmates on January 15.
Official sources told the Excelsior that even autopsy on the body of Chamel Singh, 55, son of Rassal Singh, a resident of Bhalwal Molu, Pargwal, hasn’t been conducted so far. His body was lying in Jinnah Hospital at Lahore for nearly a month now.
The Indian High Commission in Islamabad has taken up the matter with Pakistan for handing over the body to them so that it could be returned to the family. The High Commission staff had recently written to the family of Dara Singh at Pargwal and sent an email that the body would be handed over to them at Wagah border in Amritsar district of Punjab soon.
Chamel Singh’s elder son, Dara Singh told the Excelsior on telephone from Pargwal that his family had replied to the letter the very next day by email as well as via post seeking that the body be handed over to them at Octroi Post in Suchetgarh sector of RS Pura tehsil as it would be easy for them to transport the body to the native village of the victim instead of Wagah.
“After that, we didn’t get any response from the Indian High Commission”, Dara Singh said.
“We equally blame the Indian Government for the mess. Out Government returned body of Pakistan Army jawan within 24 hours of his killing in Lam area of Nowshera sector with full respects while Pakistan Government has failed to give the dead body of an Indian prisoner even after a month of his killing”, he lamented.
There had been reports that to make the killing of Chamel Singh as a natural death, Pakistan authorities had deliberately been delaying the return of his body as time delay would heal the wounds, which he might have suffered in the scuffle.
“The Pakistan authorities had instead been shifting blame of delay in handing over the body on India saying that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad hasn’t deputed an official to Jinnah Hospital in whose presence the autopsy has to be conducted”, sources said.
Chamel Singh, according to official inputs and information supplied by his family, had gone mission from his house on December 22, 2008. However, it was in October 2012 that the family came to know of his confinement in Kot Lakhpat Rai jail of Lahore Pakistan when they received a letter from Chamel Singh addressed to his wife Kamlesh Devi.
In the letter, he had written that he had inadvertently crossed the border and was arrested by Pakistani forces. He had said that he would be completing his sentence in the next few months. However, according to sources, Chamel was due to complete his sentence in 2015.
Surprisingly, Dara Singh said, they received another letter written by his father on February 13 i.e. nearly a month after his killing in which Chamel Singh had stated that he had written at least 10 letters to them but got no reply. “We didn’t receive any letter excepting the one we got in October 2012”, Dara Singh indicating that Pakistan jail authorities might have blocked rest of the letters.
While Pakistan authorities had claimed that Chamel Singh had complained of chest pain after breakfast on January 15 and was shifted to hospital, where he died but Tehseen Khan, a Christian lawyer who recently completed a 42-month sentence for a fraud case in the same jail had claimed that Singh had died after he was allegedly beaten by jail staff and some inmates over a dispute on washing of clothes.
Pakistan authorities had launched a judicial inquiry into the death and Magistrate Afzal Abbas recorded the statements of 14 Indian prisoners who were in the same barrack as Chamel Singh. The magistrate is awaiting the findings of the autopsy to finalise his report.
There are a total of 33 Indian prisoners in Kot Lakhpat Jail and officials have said they are safe.
He was lodged in Kot Lakhpat Rai jail since June 2012 and was due to complete his sentence in 2015.
Kot Lakhpat Jail’s Additional Superintendent Ishtiaq Ahmed said that the autopsy could be done only when an official of the Indian High Commission is present.
However, Tehseen Khan, a Christian lawyer who recently completed a 42-month sentence for a fraud case, claimed Singh had died after jail staff allegedly beat him.
Authorities launched a judicial inquiry into the death and Magistrate Afzal Abbas recorded the statements of 14 Indian prisoners who were in the same barrack as Singh.
However, the magistrate is awaiting the findings of the autopsy to finalise his report.
There are a total of 33 Indian prisoners in Kot Lakhpat Jail and officials have said they are safe.
The records of Kot Lakhpat Jail State that Singh was arrested near the border at Sialkot in 2010.
He was brought to the jail last June and was due to complete his sentence in 2015.
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