Prisoners Caught Up in India-Pakistan Conflict

A Pakistani prisoner who was recently attacked by a fellow inmate in an Indian prison, has died in hospital.

Earlier, an Indian prisoner died after being allegedly attacked by prison inmates in Pakistan.

At a state funeral, soldiers from the Punjab Police pay their respects to Sarabjit Singh.

Sarabjit was declared a martyr soon after his death in hospital, following an attack in a Pakistani prison.

Thousands of people, including senior politicians, attended his funeral.

Amid chants of “Down with Pakistan”, Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur performed the last rites.

“We must give a fitting response. We must break all ties with them including trade and sports, and we must send back all the Pakistani artists who are earning money and living a luxurious life here. We must also stop train and bus services to Pakistan; this is all useless and farcical.”

50-year old Sarabjit Singh spent almost half his life as a prisoner in Pakistan.

He was arrested in 1990 on charges of spying and carrying out a bomb attack in Pakistan.

His family claims he was innocent but a Pakistani court found him guilty and sentenced him to death.... which was later commuted by President Asif Ali Zardari.

Many Indian and Pakistani human rights activists have been campaigning for his release.

The Pakistan government had agreed to release him last year but changed its mind a few hours before the announcement was due to be made.

Some human rights activists believe that this is an act of revenge... says Sana Das from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

“We can’t dissociate what happened to Sarabjit from what really happened in India’s prisons in the last few months and we are talking about two hangings that did create a disturbance and I don’t think we can ignore that factor.”

Pakistani militant Ajmal Kasab and Kashmiri Muslim Mohammad Afzal Guru, were recently executed in India.

“That did affect, it created a certain kind of turmoil in the media it created a certain kind of turmoil in the civil society in Pakistan and what we see it has happened in jails as well.”
 
A Pakistani prisoner who was recently attacked by a fellow inmate in Indian, died of multi-organ failure.

Prison authorities said it was just a fight between Sanaullah Ranjay and other inmates... but Pakistan sees it as retaliation for the attack on Sarabjit.

Manzoor Memon is a spokesperson for the Pakistani High Commission to India.

“We strongly condemn the attack. It is the duty of the government of India to ensure the safety of all Pakistani prisoners, and as you know, the central government issued a security alert to all state governments about Pakistani prisoners, but the attack still happened, and in the presence of the jail authorities.”

These incidents have shocked the families of Indian and Pakistani prisoners. They are now worried about the safety of their relatives.
 
Munawwar Bibi, is the mother of Akhtar Islam, imprisoned in the same jail where Sanaullah was attacked.

“We have no peace of mind since we heard about the attack.  We fear there may be an attack on him too. We are praying for his safety day and night.”

Jasbir Kaur’s brother, Kirpal Singh, is on death row in Pakistan. He has also been convicted for spying and terrorist activities.

“We are very scared. What happened to Sarabjit could happen to Kirpal as well. We are appealing to the government to ensure the safety of other Indian prisoners in Paikstan.”

There are nearly six hundred Indian prisoners in Pakistan, and almost the same number of Pakistanis in Indian jails.

Many of them have been languishing in prison for decades.

Those convicted of spying are not claimed by either government and suffer the most.

Sandeep Dixit is Associate Editor with the daily newspaper, The Hindu.

“Spying is an integral part of the workings of the state, whether you have to run a country, a state or a kingdom, you need to be aware of what is happening around you. You need to know, not only what your enemies are up to, but also what your friends are doing. So it is an integral part and everyone knows about it.”

But the vast majority of these prisoners in India and Pakistan have nothing to do with spying.

They are ordinary people, mostly fishermen and farmers, who cross the border by accident.

Rita Manchanda is Research Director at the South Asian Forum for Human Rights.

“They are marginal poor people and they are completely ignored. There is no case of spying against them yet the levels of suspicion between the two countries are such that they also get mired. The fishermen are held to ensure that there is a commodity to be exchanged when they wish to demonstrate a goodwill gesture.”

The hostilities may not end soon... and both countries view this as a wakeup call.

Salman Khurshid is India’s Minister for external affairs.

“I hope this tragedy will contribute something to at least understanding of the human element of the cost of hostility between our two countries.”