54 Indian POW’s held in Pakistani jails
About 54 missing Indian defence personnel of 1971 War are believed to be in the custody of Pakistan. Pakistan has as usual denied the presence of any such personnel in its custody. The Government has been pursuing this issue with Pakistan for a long time.
This issue was taken up with the Pakistan Government at various levels on a number of occasions. Recently, during the visit of External Affairs Minister to Islamabad in January 2007, the matter was again raised with the President of Pakistan and the latter in turn agreed to a visit by a small group of relatives of missing personnel to Pakistan. Accordingly, a delegation of 14 relatives of missing defence personnel visited 10 jails in different cities of Pakistan from 1st June, 2007 to 14th June 2007, but they could not find any missing defence personnel of 1971 War.
As per laid instructions, a missing person is presumed to be killed if he is not found for 7 years and thereafter his family is given liberalized pensionary awards, which include liberalized family pension, gratuity and education allowance for children. Actions accordingly have been taken in case of missing defence personnel of 1971 War.
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