JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: How true is Mahatma Gandhi’s saying in the backdrop of the mentality of those people for whom he struggled for years to get freedom from: “An eye for an eye will turn the whole world blind”? As the family of Sarabjit Singh mourns his brutal death at the hands of Pakistani inmates in a Lahore prison, a tit-for-tat attack on a Pakistani prisoner — Sanaullah — in a Jammu jail brings Gandhi’s words to life. Sanaullah died on the morning of May 9 due to multiple organ failure. Both the Pakistani Punjab and Indian-Kashmir governments have announced that inquires will be conducted to determine the culprits but we all know that this will be nothing more than just eyewash. These inquiries, if ever made public, will be based on ifs and buts in an attempt to justify the hateful acts of violence.
Yes, we know fellow prisoners attacked them, but don’t we know who the real culprits are. These apparent attackers were just tools driven by the hate-mongering of right-wingers in both countries. These right-wingers not only fool people to gain cheap popularity but also blackmail respective governments to halt any step forward towards behaving like civilised countries. Don’t we know what Sarabjit and Sanaullah were doing when caught? When countries fight proxy wars, they make innocent people their fodder to carry out terrorist activities.
Perhaps, it is time for both countries to review their policies towards prisoners. Hundreds of people are incarcerated in either country’s jails. Most of them are fishermen who are unable to influence their respective governments for their release. Those accused of terrorist activities are denied counsel services and face brutal treatment. Both countries need to come out of the number game and release all fishermen. All those accused of terrorism must not be held beyond their stipulated prison terms. Otherwise, we are going to have more and more such tit-for-tat madness.
Death is no victory — no one shall claim it by murdering hapless prisoners.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2013.
