Sialkot welcomes two young residents it had lost to Indian jails

SIALKOT: Two youths - Ehsan Abbas aged 23 and Mubashar Ali aged 18 – returned to their homes here on Thursday, after languishing in Indian jails for several years. The two were among the 24 Pakistani prisoners released by the Indian government on Wednesday. However, Tayyab Tahir Jamil, aged 17, remains in a jail across the border.

The arrival of the young men was greeted by large processions. Family, friends and supporters showered rose petals on them. The families of the released men and human rights activists termed the delay in the release of the two boys from Indian jails as one in a series of unending violations of human rights. The families praised the efforts of the local NGO, Rose Human Rights Organisation, that campaigned for the boys’ release.

Three Sialkot-based Pakistani youths had been in Indian jails for several years, despite having completed their prison sentences for crossing the border illegally. Tayyab Tahir Jamil, from the Kaanwaan Lit village in Daska, had crossed the border near Cholistan by mistake. He had gone to Cholistan after leaving his family over a domestic dispute. On July 22, 2009, his grief-stricken parents received a letter from their son, who was now in Sri Krishan Ganga Nagar Jail in India. He had been arrested by the Indian border security force on July 11, 2008.

The other two youths’ fate seems to have taken a turn for the better. Ehsan and Mubashar had completed their six-month sentences quite some time ago.

Both young men had mistakenly entered Indian Territory across the Sialkot Working Boundary near the Bajra Garhi village in Pasrur while attending a wedding.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2010.