LAHORE, June 13: The bodies of two Pakistanis, including an old woman, who died in Indian police custody allegedly because of torture, were handed over to the Pakistani authorities at the Wagah border on Friday.
Families and relatives of the diseased, Abdul Aleem, 28, and Rashidan Bibi, 60, who went to Wagah to receive the bodies vented their anger against the Indian government for ‘killing’ their loved ones and the Pakistani government’s apathy over such incidents.
One of the placards they were holding read: “Are the lives of Pakistanis so worthless that even our government is not bothered about what is happening to its citizens in Indian jails?”
They said the Indian government should be ashamed of such a ‘brutal act’, especially when Pakistan had made a friendly gesture by releasing Indian spy Kashmir Sing.
A relative of Rashidan Bibi spoke about the ordeal of the old lady and her family members in an Indian jail. Khalifa Ahmed, nephew of Rashidan, told Dawn that her two daughters and a nephew and a niece were still languishing in the Amritsar jail.
He said Rashidan, of Wazirabad in Punjab, had about two years ago left for India by train with four members of her family to see her relatives in Saran Pur.
Indian security officials took them into custody on charges of drugs smuggling, he added.
“We approached the Pakistani High Commission in India, but it did not help us. We then contacted some human rights groups there and also moved court but to no avail.”
Khalifa said that one of Rashidan’s daughters who was pregnant at that time gave birth to a child in the jail.
He accused the Indian jail authorities of torturing the arrested people. He appealed to the government to secure their release.
Imran Ali, brother of Abdul Aleem, of Badin in Sindh, said Aleem had mistakenly crossed the border in 2001. He said the family had come to know about his arrest in 2003 when he wrote from a jail in Rajasthan.
“Aleem told us that he had been arrested on spying charges and was being subjected to severe torture.” Imran said he had written to the Pakistan High Commission in India, seeking help. “We heard the news of Aleem’s death a month ago. We contacted the commission for making arrangements for return of the body and the process took more than a month,” he added.
He demanded an independent inquiry into the matter.
Meanwhile, families of the two victims were facing problems in the post-mortem of the bodies at the Lahore morgue. They were told by the morgue officials that a board of doctors would be constituted on Saturday for the purpose.
