Publication Date : 03-05-2013
Pakistan failed to protect Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh leading to a most heinous attack on him that led tragically to his death, and placed India-Pakistan relations under renewed strain. The attack has given the votaries of war between the two nations yet another handle to flog their cause, with television channels in New Delhi adding further grist to the mill.
Informed debate has been turned into macho muscle flexing, with journalists joining extreme opinion to preach hate and divisiveness. It can be no one’s case that Pakistan has ensured justice for the Indian prisoners, or followed even the basic norms of international law in giving them justice or protection in the jails.
But at the same time, hate talk and irrational demands cannot be condoned as these will only strengthen the war lobbies and serve as yet another setback to peace between the two countries. It is imperative thus, for Islamabad to take several steps in a bid to defuse growing tension and more importantly, to make its commitment to peace clear.
Sarabjit Singh’s death is a tragedy, more so as the family he lived to see one day was by his side when he was not in a position to even be aware of the fact. It is also a story that highlights the role of governments when the poor are apprehended and caught. Singh was caught by the Pakistani authorities and charged with terror attacks. If he was working for Indian intelligence agencies, they of course turned their back on him the moment he was apprehended.
Caught between a rock and a hard place Singh fought an isolated legal battle with the help of compassionate Pakistani lawyers, and his family that ran from pillar to post to keep his case alive.
Hope for his release turned into trauma for his young daughters after he was badly beaten by fellow inmates; this after repeatedly warning the authorities of the death threats he had been receiving, with Pakistan taking little or no action to ensure his safety and security. The Indian government too did not bother to raise the issue at any level that could make a difference.
The prisoners responsible for the attack have been booked and the jail staff suspended in two first responses by the Pakistan government. An enquiry has been ordered into the incident as well and Pakistan must ensure that this is transparent and impartial. However, this incident will only make a difference if it leads to a thorough review by both India and Pakistan of their attitude and approach towards each other’s prisoners.
Civil rights groups have been asking for a comprehensive prisoner policy that both New Delhi and Islamabad have been dismissive of. The result is that hundreds of poor and innocent fisherfolk and shepherds who stray across invisible territorial lines languish in Indian and Pakistani jails, being treated as spies with no help in sight.
There is a pressing need for both countries to set up a mechanism under credible eminent persons to review the cases in jail, and formulate a policy whereby every fresh case is reviewed immediately and action taken to ensure that the innocent poor do not have to pay for the rigidity of their respective governments.
There are sufficient individuals with good sense in both India and Pakistan--although watching television hysteria one often tends to lose sight of this fact--that can constitute the talent pool for such a mechanism based on human rights and the law.
There is no reason for fisherfolk, for instance, to languish for decades in jails, with often no hope of return, just because New Delhi and Islamabad are not interested in their future and only concerned with the convoluted polemics of bilateral relations.
There are good human right bodies on both sides that can be entrusted with the task of overseeing arrest, detention and release of prisoners and thereby ensure that innocents do not suffer just because two governments have forgotten how to talk and deal in a civilised fashion with each other.
Meanwhile, the media on both sides should be urged by organisations like the Editors Guild in India to at least practice some restraint instead of using incidents to stretch wisdom and rationality to breaking point.
As the old saying goes, it takes years to build some thing and hours to destroy it. And while it is no one's case that issues should not be reported at length, ill-informed and jingoistic debates conducted often by irresponsible anchors certainly do not work in the interests of either country.
It is important now for both India and Pakistan to learn from Sarabjit Singh’s tragic saga, and to sit together to evolve a policy and a mechanism that does not allow poor innocent Indians and Pakistanis straying across borders to vanish into sinister dark dungeons of either life imprisonment or imprisonment for life by default, just because they are too poor to ring the bells in the corridors of power. And hence, their life is cheap for both New Delhi and Islamabad.
The writer is Consulting Editor of The Statesman
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