A Gujarat man has reunited with his family after spending more than 28 years in Pakistan jail on espionage charges and appealed to the Indian government to help bring back other compatriots languishing in prisons in the neighbouring country.
Kuldeep Yadav (59), who returned home and reunited with his sister and three brothers in Ahmedabad on August 25, also requested the government to help him with his rehabilitation, saying he was left with nothing and cannot remain dependent on his siblings forever.
"Even the shirt I am wearing now is from Pakistan. I do not even have my own clothes," he said on Wednesday.
Yadav was arrested by Pakistan authorities in March 1994 on espionage charges and released from jail on August 22 this year. He entered India via the Wagah-Attari border in Punjab.
He appealed to the Indian High Commission in Pakistan to understand the plight of Indians lodged in jails in the neighbouring country and help bring them back home.
Yadav said several incarcerated Indians have lost their mental balance and cannot even remember their names because of intense torture at the hands of Pakistani authorities. Such people continue to remain in jail even after their sentence was over.
"Whenever we requested the Pakistan government and jail authorities to release us, they'd say only one thing, 'that the Indian government was not accepting us'. When the Indian government does not accept us, then release becomes difficult," he told reporters at his sister's residence in the city's Chandkheda locality.
Talking about the plight of Indians lodged in Pakistan jails, Yadav said several inmates show abnormal behaviour due to long incarceration and torture at the hands of authorities there and have difficulty in remembering their names or addresses.
"When they are caught there and tortured, their life is ruined. They are not able to recall anything, even their names. They may have forgotten their names, but they are all Indians, and the government here should help bring them back," he said.
He talked about one Bablu Ram, who he said, has got his Aadhaar card with him. One or two Indian prisoners even had their passports with them.
"It is for the Indian government to seek their release because they went there out of patriotism, for the work of the country," he said.
Yadav said he was fortunate to have his brothers and sister waiting for him back home.
"I want all the Indian prisoners languishing there to get the same happiness of reuniting with their family members that I have got today. The Indian government should release Pakistani prisoners jailed here in return for Indians jailed in Pakistan," he said.
Yadav said he spent his entire life for the country, but got nothing in return.
"For how long will I remain dependent on my brothers and sister? I appeal to the government to help me in my rehabilitation. Even the shirt on my body is from Pakistan, I don't even have my own clothes," he said.
His sister Rekha Yadav said she was confident to see her brother one day.
"I had full confidence in God that my brother will return home. Today I am very happy. I tied rakhi on his hand and I am very happy. I have got my brother after a long tapasya (austere devotion)," she said.
Rekha Yadav said she and her brother exchanged letters over the years some of which would reach him in jail but many won't.
"For the last several years, even the exchange of letters had stopped. We only hoped the government would do something for us," she said.
The Indian High Commission in Islamabad had informed Yadav's family members through a letter dated February 1, 2007, that he had been kept at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.
In a subsequent letter, Yadav had revealed he was caught by Pakistan authorities on March 23, 1994 and kept in detention for three years. After that, a military court sentenced him to 25 years in jail on spying charges and he was shifted to Kot Lakhpat jail in 1996.
Yadav had left home in 1989, saying he was going for a job in New Delhi, but did not specify the nature of the employment. The family later lost contact with Yadav, a law graduate from the Gujarat University.
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