ISLAMABAD, June 12: Family members of 13 missing Indian soldiers Tuesday sought access to military prisons and mental asylums after a futile search for their loved ones in different civilian jails in Pakistan.

Speaking at a press conference here after vising Adiala Jial in Rawalpindi, they said through a written request they had sought permission to visit Attock Fort where they believed some of the soldiers who went missing after 1971 Pakistan-India war were detained.

Mr Gurbir Singh Gill, looking for his missing brother Wing Commander S.H. Gill, said a request had also been made for allowing them to met retired armed forces personnel who were involved in repatriation process in 1971 as they would be in a better position to give some useful information.

He said the missing soldiers may be in some detention centres unknown to the present rulers and retired armed forces personnel could help give a lead to trace them.

Mr Gill said there was hard and irrefutable evidence available with them which suggested that their missing family members were in Pakistan.

A crumbling, yellowing copy of the Dhaka newspaper, Sunday Pakistan Observer of December 5, 1971, carrying a Rawalpindi-dateline report that “Flt-Lt Tambay was among five Indian pilots taken alive by Pakistani forces” was shown to the media to substantiate the claim.

Flt-Lt Tambay and 53 other servicemen reported captured by the Pakistani forces did not return home with the 650 prisoners of war Islamabad repatriated after the 1972 Shimla accord.

They also showed to the media a photograph in Time magazine of December 27, 1971, captioned “Indian prisoner behind bars.” According to the delegation, the man in the photograph is Major A.K. Ghosh, one of the 54 missing in action, and it has a real photograph of the Major to prove its contention.

“Another piece of evidence is a letter from Major Ashok Suri to his father, R.K. Suri written in 1975, saying 20 Indian officers were being held in Karachi and calling for efforts for his release. “G.S. Gill said.

He also referred to BBC correspondent Victoria Schofield’s book “Bhutto; Trial and Execution,” in which she says that during his incarceration in the Kot Lakhpat jail before his 1979 execution, he was in a cell next to a barrack with Indian prisoners from the 1971 war.

He said another missing soldier Major Kanwaljeet Singh Sandhu had written a letter to the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1980, in which he asked her to make efforts for the release of 35 Indian defence personnel.

Ms Kaur mysteriously received a copy of this letter around the same time.

He said there may be some soldiers who had become insane or who had deliberately tried to conceal their original identification. “That is why we want to see military detention centres and mental asylums as well”, he remarked.

A member of the delegation Ajit Singh told he held a useful meeting with Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Maj (retd) Tanvir Hussain Syed. He said he was informed that his brother G. R. Singh was killed while in 1971 war while fighting valiantly and was buried with dignity in recognition of his bravery.

The 14-member group arrived in Pakistan on June 1 after the Foreign Office allowed them to visit different jails in Pakistan for 15 days to search their missing relatives.One of the members of the delegation had to leave early after his father died in India.

President Musharraf made the grand gesture of inviting the families to visit Pakistan and see for themselves if their kin were in prisons in the country.

Later talking to Dawn members of the delegation called for a thorough re-investigation of each individual case. They said both the Indian and Pakistan Governments must conduct a coordinated search. “It has to be a transparent, open investigation and the involvement of the families in this is essential,” they said, adding that over the time, each family had collected leads that could help narrow down the search. The group is armed with several pieces of evidence indicating that the men were taken alive by Pakistani forces.

Muhammad Asghar from Rawalpindi adds: The delegation also visited Adiala Jail but did not find their loved ones, the jail authorities said.

The delegation was led by B.Humpal the 2nd secretary Indian High Commission and Suman K. Kaul the staff member visited Adiala jail where they were welcomed by jail superintendent Shahid Saleem Baig.

The jail authorities facilitated and provided the lists of 300 Indian prisoners who had been in the jail on different times on various charges since 1971 was but they could not find any missing POW. Later the Indian delegation left the jail.

The Indian delegation looking for their missing POWs had visited Central Jail Lahore(Kot Lakhpat) and Karachi jail but did not find their missing loved ones.According to Adiala jail superintendent Shahid Saleem Baig, there had been no prisoner in any Pakistani jail who had been behind the bars since last 36 year.