What about the other kashmirs?

 

 

The miraculous release of Kashmir Singh has sent a fresh wave of hope among the families who have been trying to trace their missing kin in Pakistan jails or seeking their pardon and freedom.

Pakistani human rights activist Syed Sarim Burney, who was at the Wagah checkpost (on the Pakistani side) to formally see off Kashmir Singh, said he would also take up the case of Sarabjit Singh, on death row in Kot Lakhpat Central Jail for the past 17-years on charges of plotting bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan. Singh's case has since been rejected by President Musharraf.

Among those present at the border on Tuesday was Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit. It was a touching scene when she embraced Paramjit Kaur and congratulated her on Kashmir’s return. “Kashmir has told me that Sarabjit is in high spirits and I am now hopeful of his return too", she said.

Also present at the border were relatives of Kirpal Singh who is also facing a death sentence in Pakistan, where he was arrested in 1992 on charges of espionage and a bomb blast in Islamabad. Kirpal’s sister Jagir said with tears in her eyes: “We receive three to four letter from him every month. Our mother died with her desire of seeing her son unfulfilled. We are poor and not able to take up Kirpal’s case effectively. We can only beg that he be pardoned and sent back.”

The amazing return of Kashmir has also rekindled hope among the 54 Indian families whose kin have been missing since being taken prisoner in the wars of 1971 and 1965. “Hope is the ultimate casualty in any war and we are not ready to give up,” says young Mohali-based psychiatrist Simmi Waraich, whose father, Major S.P.S. Waraich of the 15 Punjab Regiment, went missing in December 1971 during battle at Hussainiwala, Ferozepur sector. Chandigarh-based S.S. Gill, whose older brother, Wing Commander Harsern Singh Gill was taken prisoner after his fighter went down in 1971 says, “If Kashmir has survived after 35-years of solitary confinement, my brother too would have survived.” Simmi Waraich and Mr Gill accompanied 14 missing PoW relatives to Pakistan in what turned out to be a fruitless search for their loved ones last year. Even though the visit had come through on a personal invitation of President Musharraf and this was a first-of-its-kind exercise in the world, they were given very limited access to the records at the 10 jails they visited over 13 days in June. They were denied access to the Attock Fort Prison. Simmi says that the passing of three decades since the 1971 war has led to a growing apathy amidst the Indian and Pakistani establishments. “So many, including my father, are still missing, yet there has been no independent or mutual attempt to establish an official mechanism to find these men,” she adds.