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Kin arrive in Pakistan in search of missing soldiers

Nirupama Subramanian

The two-week tour of jails will take them across Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: With their hopes high and hearts full of expectations, 14 Indians with a husband, father or brother missing in action (MIA) from the 1971 war with Pakistan, arrived in Lahore to see for themselves if their loved ones are being held in jails in this country.

"We are really thankful to President Pervez Musharraf for his gesture in allowing us to visit Pakistan. We hope that everything about the visit will be transparent and that it will be carried out in the same spirit as the President's gesture," said G.H Gill, whose brother, an officer with the Indian Air Force, went missing after his plane was shot down over Pakistan on December 13, 1971.

Pakistan has denied it is holding any Indian Prisoners of War, but Gen. Musharraf invited the relatives of the missing men to come and see for themselves after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised the issue with him during their meeting in January.

"We are looking for our missing in action. We do not know if they are being held as [prisoners of war] or if they changed their names and gave false identities and are being held under a different identity, so we came to find out," said Mr. Gill, whose brother H.S. Gill was 34 when he was declared MIA. "He may have baled out, and mingled amongst the people, I don't know," Mr. Gill said, talking to The Hindu from Lahore.

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