For the past 50 years, Major Kanwaljit Singh has been imprisoned in Pakistan: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition asking for the release of Indian Army personnel held as POWs by Pakistan

*Paromita Das

Following the war in 1971, Pakistan imprisoned many brave Indian soldiers. The families of these soldiers are still waiting for their loved ones to be released. Major Kanwaljit Singh has also been imprisoned in Pakistan for the past 50 years, but the government has made no effort to free him.

Major’s wife stated in an application that her husband had been a war prisoner in a Pakistani jail since 1971. He should have been released from Pakistani custody by now, but Pakistan has illegally detained Major Kanwaljit Singh.

In her petition, she requested that an appeal be made to the International Court of Justice for the release of 54 Indian soldiers who have been imprisoned in Pakistan since 1971. And Pakistan must account for illegally detaining Indian soldiers.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition from the wife of an Indian Army officer seeking the repatriation of her husband and other Army officers, believed to have been held illegally as Prisoners of War (POWs) by Pakistan since the 1971 war.

A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant issued a notice to the Center on the petition of Jasbir Kaur, the wife of Major Kanwaljit Singh, who is said to be among the POWs, and asked for a response within three weeks.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant issued a notice to the Center on the petition of Jasbir Kaur, the wife of Major Kanwaljit Singh, who is said to be among the POWs, and asked for a response within three weeks.

The petition requested that the Center approach the International Court of Justice against Pakistan with appropriate coercive and binding judicial remedies for the release of all Indian POWs held in “torturous custody of Pakistan in violation of the Geneva Convention for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.”

The petition also requested that the Center produce the court of inquiry proceedings, if held under the mandatory provisions of Army Rules, into the circumstances surrounding Pakistan’s capture, torture, and murder of Captain Saurabh Kalia during the Kargil war.

Advocate Namit Saxena, representing petitioner Jasbir Kaur, contended that very little progress has been made on the issue of POWs in the last 50 years.

The petition requested that the Center take action to establish a domestic as well as an international mechanism for effectively enforcing the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Geneva Convention for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

“The petitioner is the wife of IC-14590 Major Kanwaljit Singh, who has been evidenced and heard to be held under the government of Pakistan’s illegal detention,” the plea stated.

It stated that the PIL is required by the circumstances, as 54 PoWs are admittedly detained “Tortuous detention’ by the Pakistani government has been evidenced and heard since the 1971 war.

The petition also asked the court to order the Center to obtain from the International Red Cross a list of POWs who were supposed to be repatriated by Pakistan in the years following the 1971 war but were “not repatriated as scheduled in the third train of POWs.”
The PIL referred to four different cases that are currently before the Supreme Court, including the case of martyr Saurabh Kalia, who was murdered along with five other soldiers during the Kargil War.

It claimed that despite the existence of a “specific bilateral agreement in force between the respondent Union of India and the detaining power of the Government of Pakistan,” none of the 54 PoWs had been released.

According to the petition, the Pakistani government is also shielding the perpetrators of crimes against humanity committed against Captain Saurabh Kalia and his men, as well as many other PoWs/ soldiers whose names could not be specifically listed herein.
According to the petition, “despite the passage of more than 70 years since the Geneva Convention entered into force, respondent Union of India and specifically the Indian Army under them have not initiated any concrete steps for the establishment of a mechanism for effective enforcement of the provisions of the Geneva Convention.”

It stated that “the overwhelming admitted reality that 54 POWs, narrated in the Gujrat High Court Judgement dated December 23, 2011, who are worthy soldiers of this great nation, are living a miserable life for nearly 50 years now” demonstrates “the utmost suffering and trauma.”

According to the plea, the respondents have so far resisted seeking coercive and binding remedies through the International Court of Justice and other international human rights organizations, claiming that mutual release of POWs was covered by the bilateral agreement, namely the Shimla Agreement, signed on July 3, 1972.

“While late Smt. Indira Gandhi signed the said agreement and promptly fulfilled the obligation of repatriating 93,000 odd well-fed Pakistani POWs,” it claimed, “she failed to have the same implemented for the Indian POWs torturously detained by Pakistan, thereby yielding all possible bargaining power against an enemy well known for scant regard for basic human rights.”

It stated that the respondents have made no reference to the court of inquiries, etc., to date, despite the fact that there were a large number of POWs in the 1971 war, as determined in the Gujarat High Court decision dated December 23, 2011.

The plea also asked the Center to produce any court of inquiry proceedings held under the mandatory provisions of Army Rules into the circumstances in which Captain Saurabh Kalia’s frugal patrol was deployed at Bajrang Post in May 1999 during the Kargil war, was taken POW, tortured inhumanely, and murdered in cold blood, and finally bodies with injury marks were returned by Pakistan.

“Alternatively, directions be issued to said respondents to conduct such inquiry and produce the report thereof before this court for further necessary actions,” it said, in addition to requesting other PoW-related orders.

Major Kanwaljeet Singh Kanwaljit Singh was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for his gallantry on February 2, 1971. He had been subjected to a grenade attack from Pakistan.

The Human Rights Delegation of Indians in Canada claimed to have visited Pakistan’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. More than 55 missing Indian soldiers and officers who have been imprisoned since 1971 are still alive. Many Indian families were hopeful after receiving this report that their loved ones would return. The issue of bringing these soldiers home has been raised numerous times in the country’s parliament.

However, the government claims that they do not have any concrete information on the subject because Pakistan has consistently denied this.
Many families are still waiting for the return of a loved one. However, the government’s lax attitude in this regard continues to disappoint them.