Nowhere people

While Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's case has grabbed the limelight, the fact is that hundreds of prisoners both in Pakistan and India are languishing in jails for much lesser crimes

Iftikhar Gilani, Delhi

As India and Pakistan have begun process of repatriation of prisoners, many wretched souls languishing in each other's jails have got stuck for want of identity. Both countries started the identification process of prisoners last year, which helped the release and repatriation of over 1,000 prisoners including fishermen. But, there are many being tossed about for want of identity, as neither of the governments is ready to accept them as its citizens.

True to Saadat Hassan Manto's magnum opus Toba Tek Singh, Khawaja Omar Alam alias Mohammad Owais Ali wants to live in peace on the zero line as both governments have refused to accept him as their citizen. Shunned by both the governments, he is languishing in Delhi's Tihar Jail since October 2004.

A law graduate from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Alam was an Indian till 1983 when he went to Karachi to stay with his ailing maternal grandfather. After his visa expired, he did not seek extension. Instead, he "bought" a fake Pakistani passport and changed his name to Mohammad Owais Ali.

On this fake passport, he travelled to India as Mohammad Owais Ali in 1989 to marry his cousin. Father of seven children, he revisited India in 2004 on the same passport along with his family after the death of his grandfather in Karachi.

After the expiry of the Indian visa, he filed a petition in the court seeking for "return" of his Indian citizenship. The court referred the matter to the Union Home Ministry, which rejected his application and filed a case of overstay, treating him as a Pakistani since he had travelled on a Pakistani passport.

When he completed the sentence, the court ordered his deportation to Pakistan. But in the course of verifying his antecedents, the Pakistan government found that he had travelled on a fake Pakistani passport. Therefore, Pakistan refuses to accept him as its citizen, as do the Indians who want his early deportation. He remains stuck in Tihar Jail for want of national identity.

The case of 45-year-old mentally challenged Bahauddin is another example. Wasting in Jodhpur Central Jail, he refused to believe that he was in India or that he had crossed the Sindh-Rajasthan border.

"My crime is I had asked armywalas to give me a glass of water," says Bahauddin, believing that it was animosity that promoted Pakistani army personnel to imprison him. Recently Pakistani diplomats here were allowed to meet some Pakistani prisoners in the prison. But, Bahauddin can only remember the visit by his village head Fateh Sulaiman Khail and Faiz Mohammad, a neighbour, complicating the task of identification.

While Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's case has grabbed the limelight, the fact is that hundreds of prisoners both in Pakistan and India are languishing in jails for much lesser crimes. Some caught for spying; majority of them for overstaying and just straying across the borders.

Recently 81 Pakistani prisoners were granted counsellor access between February 27 and 28, 2006 in Delhi's Tihar Jail.  Amongst them were five children namely Zubair (5) and Suhail (9) with their mother Salma Begam and Amina (5) Suhail (8) and Ayesha (10) languishing in prison along with their mother Mumtaz. All prisoners had one grouse that none in India, not the media, nor did voluntary groups take up their cases, marking a sharp contrast with their counterparts in Pakistan, who did their best to move the world's attention towards the plight of Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails.

Prisoners have hear trending stories to share. Robi, a woman from Karachi is severely psychologically disturbed. Three of her children aged between five and seven got lost at New Delhi railway station moments before her arrest. Her only pleading to authorities in Amritsar Jail is to get her children back. Divorced and forced to leave home by her Bangladeshi husband Abdul Malik, Robi was returning from Dhaka illegally on her way to Karachi. Accompanied by her five children, she lost three of them while getting down from the train at New Delhi railway station on July 26, 2004.

The ring leader managing her travel had asked her to board a Rajasthan bound train and forget about her children. But, she stayed back searching for her children, which led her into the police net. She doesn't want to go to Pakistan unless she gets her children back.

Mohammad Ejaz (32) from Batapur Lahore has been in Delhi's Tihar Jail since 1999. He had visited his relations in Haryana and Delhi on a genuine Pakistani passport. On October 4, 1999, Aslam a neighbour of his relatives in Delhi offered to accompany him to Agra. Since he did not have a permit for Agra, Aslam took his papers and promised to get permission stamped on the travel papers. "Within an hour, instead of Aslam, the police raided the house where I was putting in and arrested me for travelling without papers," said Ejaz. His pleadings to verify his travel details from Samjuta Express records have fallen on deaf ears in the court.

Prisoners, however, believe that Sarabjit's case may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for them.  It has prompted the two governments to release prisoners who have served their sentences and whose national identities have been determined. The two countries had swapped hundreds of prisoners last year to foster goodwill. Pakistan had released 435 Indian prisoners in last September while India has freed 158 Pakistanis, some as young as 12 years.  Pakistani diplomats here have also completed identification process of further 108 prisoners and their release is also expected anytime now. Last March Pakistan had released over 500 Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen.

According to officials, there are 162 Indian civilian prisoners in Pakistani jails. This excludes 386 fishermen. But Pakistan does not accept these figures. It confirms the presence of 156 civil Indian prisoners and 377 fishermen. It does not also acknowledge the presence of 74 Indian prisoners of war (POW) India claims are in Pakistani jails. In contrast, India said there are 59 Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails and not a single POW.

While Indian government may be blamed for showing no magnanimity, Pakistani authorities too have been inhumanely lethargic on this issue. The governments wake up to take action only if important persons are caught in the dragnet. "Understandably when a high-profile Air Force officer Air Marshall Cariappa (son of late Field Marshall Cariappa) was captured by the Pakistanis his release had been settled speedily. Less important officers and men get caught in bureaucratic red tape and communalism of reciprocity between the two governments. The human element is rarely at play," wrote human rights activist RM Pal.