JAIL TALES

On way to UK, Indian youth lands in Lahore jail: An Indian youth, who was supposed to land in United Kingdom, instead landed in a jail in Lahore and now his grandparents have been appealing to the Indian government to intervene to save the life of their innocent grandson, who allegedly fell prey to unscrupulous travel agents, the Indian Express reported.
Jatinder (24) of Saiflabad village near Dhilwan had gone to Dubai three years ago as a plumber and then came in contact with a travel agent there who promised to take him to the UK, “But we received a call from Lahore a week back and were told that Jatinder was in a jail in Lahore,” said Jatinder’s grandparents Mohinder Singh and Nirmal Kaur. They have appealed to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and bring their grandson back home.
“Jatinder lost his mother at an early age while his father, Jaswinder Singh, became severely depressed after the death of Jatinder’s mother,” said Nirmal Kaur while adding that they spent Indian Rs 1 lakh to get him to Dubai in August 2009.
“Jatinder was in Dubai till March 2012 when he called us and said that a travel agent in had promised him to take him to UK,” said Mohinder.
The agent used unfair means and Jatinder was arrested in Iran where he spent 15 days in jail. There was also a kidnapping incident, “He was also kidnapped and they called us demanding Rs 3 lakh as ransom.”
“Jatinder called us from a Pakistan-based phone number asking us to pay the ransom. After that we lost contact with him,” said Harminder Singh a daily wage labourer and younger brother of Jatinder.
“Last Monday, we received a call from an unidentified person from Pakistan who claimed that Jatinder was in a Lahore jail as he (the unidentified man) himself was in jail and was released recently and Jatinder had requested him to convey to his family in India about his whereabouts,” Harminder said while adding that they had gone to the police who said that the matter can only be solved at the government level.
Indian terrorist waits for President Zardari to decide: Sarabjit Singh, an Indian citizen and convicted terrorist jailed in the Kot Lakhpat Jail, is still waiting for President Asif Zardari’s action on his mercy petition against his execution, Times of India reported. Singh said he was hoping that he would be granted freedom to go back to India to spend the rest of his life with his children. This hope was communicated to a delegation of 15 lawyers from India, who visited him in the jail on April 28. Wearing shalwar kameez and supporting a cap, Singh kept telling the delegation how he wanted to meet his children. He said he had not seen the blue sky for over two decades and had been passing time in his cell hoping to be released instead of being executed. The E-7 cell, where Sarabjit is being kept in solitary confinement, has a family of three cats, a black, a brown and a grey one. Singh told the delegation that he relied heavily on the company of cats and found comfort in their antics. “We have moved a mercy petition to the president, requesting for early release of Sarabjit. We are now making efforts to fix up an appointment with the president himself, to meet him directly and seek his favor for Sarabjit on humanitarian grounds,” said AR Sidhu. “Pakistan government has been cooperative, our delegation was sanctioned approval promptly to meet Sarabjit who has had the chance to meet with visitors not more than five times since his arrest,” he added.
The delegation of lawyers also met the Interior minister Rehman Malik, who was apprised about the practice of Pakistani authorities of taking the passport of devotees at Nankana Sahib and Panja Sahib gurdwaras in Pakistan. “We insisted that this hurts our religious sentiments, since Indians coming to Pakistan already have had their verifications at the international border and there is no need to do the same at a place of religion. The minister has given directions and the practice will end shortly,” said Sidhu. The lawyers are also trying to work on the details of other Indians languishing in Punjab jails. There are over 50 Indians in the Lahore jail, nearly 15 in Rawalpindi central jail besides others.