Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 2: Months after two Indian prisoners Sarabjit Singh and Chamel Singh, hailing from Punjab and Jammu were brutally murdered by prisoners and staff in Kot Lakhpat Rai jail of Lahore district in Pakistan, 11 Indian prisoners including those hailing from Jammu, have shot off a letter clandestinely to human rights activists in India apprising them of worst conditions prevailing in the Pakistani jail and inhuman treatment meted out to them.
The letter signed by 11 Indian prisoners, a copy of which has been accessed by the Excelsior, was equally critical of the Indian Government for doing nothing to secure their release and leaving them at the mercy of cruel jail authorities of Pakistan, who, they said, were neither allowing them to live nor die.
The letter said 17 more Indian prisoners (including some females) wanted to sign the letter but they had been rendered mentally deranged due to torture in the jail and that they were not even in a position to sign the document. Most of the signatories and those, who have become mentally deranged, have completed their sentence for the past about three years, it added.
The nightmare for the Indian prisoners languishing in Pakistan’s Kot Lakhpat Rai jail, which has gained notoriety after the brutal killing of Sarabjit Singh and Chamel Singh in January and April this year, for years together, continued. The letter clandestinely written by 17 Indian prisoners from inside the jail has exposed Pakistan’s brutalities.
The letter revealed that life for Indian prisoners lodged in Pakistani jail is no less than a hell. Indian prisoners languishing in Kot Lakhpat Rai jail day in and day out continued to face the brunt of Pakistani jail authorities. Even after the killing of Sarabjit Singh and Chamel Singh in the same jail, things have not changed for other Indian prisoners. They continued to be harassed and tortured by the jail authorities.
Written on June 27, 2013 secretly and addressed to some human rights activists of India, the letter revealed that only a day before i.e. July 26, 2013, another India prisoner Zakir Ahmad son of Mumtaz Ahmad, whose residential address was not known to the signatories died natural death as he was not provided proper treatment by the jail authorities during the illness.
“At least 17 Indian prisoners lodged in Kot Lakhpat Rai jail have lost their mental balance. They included some women. The reason for the prisoners turning mentally retarded was the torture by the jail authorities. Such was the condition of these prisoners that they were not in a position to sign the letter. And look at the Indian Government. They are unmoved despite brutal killings of Sarabjit Singh and Chamel Singh,’’ the letter said.
It added that the Indian prisoners lodged in Kot Lakhpat Rai jail had developed a hope last year after the Indian Government released Dr Khaleel Chisti, a Pakistani national accused of murder in Rajasthan, that some of them would also be released in exchange.
“We were given to understand in the jail that Dr Chisti was being released at the behest of former Pakistan President Asif Zardari with an understanding with the Indian Government that some Indian prisoners, at least Sarabjit Singh, would be released by Pakistan. But that didn’t happen,’’ the Indian prisoners regretted.
Disclosing that Joint Judicial Committee of India and Pakistan had visited Kot Lakhpat jail thrice on June 13, 2008, April 22, 2011 and April 30, 2013, the Indian prisoners said: “we have realized that these visits too were mere eyewash and not only the Pakistan but even the Indian Government were not bothered about our released and has left them to face torture, atrocities and inhuman treatment at the hand of Pakistan authorities’’.
Referring to the killing of Chamel Singh of Jammu and Sarabjit Singh of Punjab, the prisoners said when they were writing the letter on June 27, 2013, they came to know that only yesterday, another Indian prisoner, Zakir Ahmad son of Mumtaz Ahmad R/o Not Known has also died in the jail as he was not provided proper treatment of his illness in the jail.
The condition of the prisoners in the jail can be well gauged from the fact that while concluding the letter they wanted Indian Government to at least tell Pakistan Government to kill all Indian prisoners in the jail so, which would be good for them instead of dying everyday in hellish like conditions in the prison.
The letter lamented that on one hand, the jail authorities in Pakistan commit atrocities against them while, on the other, many a Pakistani terrorists, who had gone to wage war against India, were treated very well in the Indian jails.
“Before death embraces us, let the Indian Government take steps to ensure our release or else ask Pakistan to kill us,’’ the letter said.
Eleven Indian prisoners, who have signed the letter, included Kirpal Singh son of Shri Dass Singh, Kuldeep Singh son of Chanda Singh, Dharam Singh son of Hakim Singh, Mohammad Fareed son of Niyamat Ali, Tilak Raj son of Ram Chandar, Maqbool Lone son of Mohammad Ali, Abdul Majeed son of Abdul Qadir, Shambu Nath son of Khazan Chand, Surja Ram, son of Tiku Ram, Mohinder Singh son of Khushhal Singh and Punwasi son of Kanhaiya Lal.
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