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The News International, Thursday July 19, 2001
Musharraf orders search for POWs
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf ordered on
Wednesday to launch a combing operation all across the country to
find out whether any Indian POW is still in jail.
The President, said a cabinet source, narrated the full story on
Indian POWs as during Agra Summit Indian leaders raised this
issue several times. President Musharraf directed the provincial
governors and other authorities to re-ascertain and to be sure
that no Indian POWs is still in Pakistani jail.
The joint National Security Council-Cabinet meeting was informed
that a similar exercise was undertaken during late President
Zia's regime but no Indian POWs of 1971 war was found in any jail
and the General Headquarters authenticated this aspect.
"I have made a commitment with Indian Premier Vajpayee that
I would get back to him on this matter," President Musharraf
told the meeting with orders to provide him full details on this
matter. "I am a soldier and there is no point to keep POWs
even after 30 years," he said.
However, the meeting was informed that there are 171 Indian
criminals in Pakistani jails, facing different charges including
three who are facing death sentences. In all, it was informed to
the meeting, that out of this total 171 Indians, there are 25
fishermen, and 65 are awaiting their deportation once the Indian
High Commission completes formalities of their deportation.
It is said that 25 convicted Indians have less than one year
imprisonment as part of their sentence. "The President has
ordered to put before him their cases for remission of the
sentence of these Indians," said the source. It is expected
that once the reports from the provincial government and other
authorities are received President General Pervez Musharraf would
talk to Vajpayee on this matter.
Indya.com, PTI, Islamabad, September 5,
11:20 PM IST
No Indian PoWs in jails,
confirms Pak Foreign Office
"No Indian prisoner-of-war is held in any prison or jail in
Pakistan," a foreign office spokesman said in a statement
here on Wednesday.
"This fact has been reconfirmed after thorough
investigations conducted by the ministries of defence and
interior pursuant to President Pervez Musharraf's
directive."
The investigation had been ordered by Musharraf in response to a
request made by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during their
talks in Agra.
Musharraf, while expressing his doubts about whether a PoW could
be held for about 30 years, had promised to make one more direct
effort to search for missing Indian defence personnel in Pakistan
prisons.
Soon after his return from Agra he ordered investigations, which
revealed that no PoWs existed in any Pakistan prison, it said.
Previous searches similarly carried out at India's request had
also not come up with any Indian PoWs in any Pakistani jail, the
spokesman added.
Hindustantimes.com, September 6, 2001
'Come look for POWs yourself'
K J M Varma (PTI)
Islamabad, Sept 6: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has invited relatives of 54 missing Indian prisoners of war (POW), allegedly lodged in Pakistani jails, to visit the country and see for themselves that no soldier of the 1971 Indo-Pak war languished in its prisons.
"With the investigations by higher
officials of the Pakistan armed forces, interior ministry
officials and other official agencies into the allegations of
Indian POWs drawing blank, the president has instructed his
officials to invite the family members of the 54 missing Indian
soldiers to visit any Pakistani jail and scrutinise
records," defence spokesman Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi told PTI
here today.
He said those who wanted to visit Pakistan to look for their
missing kin could approach the Pakistan High Commission in New
Delhi and obtain necessary travel documents.
Musharraf has asked the foreign ministry officials to facilitate
the visit of any kin of the Indian POW willing to visit Pakistan,
Qureshi said.
He said in pursuance of the commitment given to Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his India visit in July, Musharraf
ordered a comprehensive probe into allegations of Indian POWs
being lodged in Pakistani jails which only maintained earlier
findings that no POWs were housed in any of the country's
prisons.
A Pakistani human rights activist, Ansar Burney, said that
foreign prisoners were housed in about 77 jails across Pakistan.
Last month, he said, his organisation Burney Welfare Trust began
its own investigations into the allegations and promised to come
out with details in about two months.
A government spokesman here last night officially declared that
no Indian prisoners of war was being held in Pakistan prisons.
"No Indian prisoner of war is held in any prison or jail in
Pakistan. This fact has been reconfirmed after thorough
investigations conducted by ministries of defence and interior,
pursuant to president Pervez Musharraf's directive," he said
in a statement.
The statement was issued after defence and interior ministry
officials submitted their inquiry reports to Musharraf directly
at a cabinet meeting two days ago.
A report in the local daily Dawn said the interior ministry
apprised the cabinet that it had checked all the prisons in the
country but found no Indian POW.
The cabinet has been told that the pictures of the POWs, which
were provided by the Indian government, were also circulated to
all the prisons and all intelligence agencies, including ISI,
were involved in the combing of the country's jails to locate
Indian POWs, it said.
The official inquiry reports confirming that no POWs existed in
Pakistani prisons were released as officials of India and
Pakistan geared up for a second meeting between Vajpayee and
Musharraf at New York on September 25.
Indiainfo.com, Thursday, September 6 2001
15:31 Hrs (IST)
Musharraf invites PoW kin to
check Pak jail
Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has invited
relatives of 54 missing Indian Prisoners of War (PoW), allegedly
lodged in Pakistani jails, to visit the country and see for
themselves that no soldier of the 1971 Indo-Pak war languished in
its prisons.
"With the investigations by higher officials of the Pakistan
armed forces, Interior Ministry officials and other official
agencies into the allegations of Indian PoWs drawing blank, the
President has instructed his officials to invite the family
members of the 54 missing Indian soldiers to visit any Pakistani
jail and scrutinise records," Defence spokesman Maj Gen
Rashid Qureshi said on September 6.
He said those who wanted to visit Pakistan to look for their
missing kin could approach the Pakistan High Commission in New
Delhi and obtain necessary travel documents.
Musharraf has asked the Foreign Ministry officials to facilitate
the visit of any kin of the Indian PoW willing to visit Pakistan,
Qureshi said.
He said in pursuance of the commitment given to Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee during his India visit in July, Musharraf
ordered a comprehensive probe into allegations of Indian PoWs
being lodged in Pakistani jails which only maintained earlier
findings that no PoWs were housed in any of the country's
prisons.
A Pakistani Human Rights activist, Ansar Burney, said that
foreign prisoners were housed in about 77 jails across Pakistan.
In August, he said, his organisation Burney Welfare Trust began
its own investigations into the allegations and promised to come
out with details in about two months. (PTI)
The Nation, date?
Burney promises to start tracing Indian POWs
NNI adds: Human rights activist Ansar Burney will start his search for Indian prisoners of war in Pakistan jails from the second week of next month. The process will be completed within two months.
In an interview with VOA in Washington, Ansar Burney termed it as a humanitarian issue.
“It is a humanitarian issue as 1971 war had ended 30 years ago. We immediately moved in after reading news that Indian Prime Minister had taken up this issue with President Musharraf. You might be knowing that we, on behalf of Ansar Burney Trust, frequently visit various jails the in country, therefore it was quite strange for me that a prisoner is detained in a jail for 30 years and I did not know him. I have been engaged in this work for about 22 years and my organisation has got many prisoners released from jails,” Burney said.
“We have written a letter to Indian Prime Minister and sought details of POWs. We have also written to Pakistani President that we want to solve this humanitarian issue. Our government has no objection to it but we have not received any reply from the Indian government even after over 20 days. We have written in letter that if it is not a political stunt, then it is really a shocking thing for us and we fully sympathise with relatives of POWs,” he added.
“Then I again handed over a letter to Indian embassy in Washington. We wrote to the Indian Prime Minister to give us details. But if it is a political issue, then Ansar Burney Trust will not participate in it as we do not want to enter into any politics. We have announced that we will start searching these POWs from second week of September. There are nearly 77 main jails where foreign prisoners are also kept,” he remarked.
Referring to the response of his initiative he said, “I have received a large number of e-mails and my step has been much lauded. Being human rights organisation, we have no concern with any government as we only talk about humanity and human beings whether they are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Jews. We have formed a committee consisting of independent journalists, which will visit all jails with me to search the POWs. But for that purpose, Indian government must provide details of its POWs to us. We will undergo the exercise even if the Indian government does not give any reply to us”.
When asked how much time will he take to complete the investigation, he said that there are about 30 to 35 jails where foreign prisoners are kept. “If these POWs are found, we will immediately contact the concerned courts and government for their release. If any POW is found, we will take him to his home in India so that we could share their joy,” Burney concluded.
Paknews.com, Sep 08 2001 21:32 IST
Burney Trust points to Indian
silence on POW details
Washington, Sept 8 (ANI): Ansar Burney Welfare
Trust International has offered its services to trace the Indian
prisoners of war (POWs) who may be still languishing in Pakistan
jails.
Ansar Burney, chairman of the group, presented a letter in this
connection to the Indian embassy here.
Later, talking to the press, he said that immediately after
having come to know about such a problem, he wrote letters to
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Foreign Minister and
Home Minister.
However, none of them sent any reply.
He also said that last month he wrote to the Indian High
Commissioner at Islamabad, suggesting him to send all the details
of such POWs to the Trust's office in Karachi or communicate with
it in Washington.
But the mission did not respond, Burney added.
In his note to Vajpayee, he mentioned the reference made to he
prisoners during his talks with President Musharraf during Agra
summit.
"I felt it my duty as a human rights campaigner to offer my
humanitarian services to search for those unfortunate
prisoners", Burney said in his letter, seeking full
information on them.
"If it is not a political game and the issue is real, then
it is a very serious humanitarian issue and we would be very much
pleased and willing to help in the matter. We would make every
efforts to search for such prisoners and get them released,"
he added.
Expressindia.com, Sept 11, 2001
Relatives of Indian POWs to
search Pakistani jails
Reuters
New Delhi, September 10: Relatives of Indian prisoners of war
will soon visit Pakistani jails in search of the missing soldiers
they believe are being held by Islamabad, an Indian government
spokeswoman said on Monday.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said Islamabad had
offered to allow the relatives to visit various Pakistani jails
and the details of the visit were being worked out. Rao said the
visit would be the second such trip after six relatives of Indian
POWs travelled to Pakistan in 1983.
"They were not able to come across any POWs then," she
said. "But we would like the issue to be addressed fully and
satisfactorily when this visit takes place." Pakistan's
Foreign Ministry last week said it had not found any Indian POWs
in any of its jails in a renewed search made at New Delhi's
request after the collapsed peace-summit between the bitter foes
in July.
New Delhi insists there are at least 54 Indian POWs in Pakistani
jails from the 1971 India-Pakistan war and relatives of the
soldiers staged angry protests outside the Pakistani embassy in
the Indian capital during the July summit in India.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar told Reuters Television
last week New Delhi must accept Islamabad's word that it is not
holding any prisoners of war. "We released the Indian
prisoners that we had soon after the war ended in accordance with
the requirements of international law," Sattar said.
"But the families of these missing Indian soldiers still
believe that their sons, soldiers are held in prisons,"
Sattar added. "If they think their soldiers are hidden
anywhere in Pakistan we would open that jail to the family of
that missing person."
Indian
Lies About POWs