Will not work as a spy for Indian Army even if paid Rs 1 lakh a month: Pak-released prisoner

Navjeevan Gopal. 

Zarina Bibi is all set to offer a bakra at Ziarat Sharif in Kazi Nag as her wish has been fulfilled. Four years back, a glass of milk in hand for her husband, she and her daughters “saw Army taking her husband Syed Khaki Hussain Shah on an assignment” from their house in Kamalkot in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.

It turned out to be a four-year long wait for her husband for whom ISI detention centres and Pakistan jails became a home after he was caught on the Pakistani side on spying charges.

Shah was among the five Indian prisoners repatriated by Pakistan on Friday through Attari land border.

“It was March 26, 2008. Army officials came to my house – Shah also names a Captain- rank officer who according to him came with Army personnel – and asked to me accompany them for an assignment. My wife was holding a glass of milk for me. I told her that I would come back in an hour’s time and then drink the milk. My daughters were also present, when I left the house. But, after crossing over to Pakistani side, I was caught hours later on the same day,” Shah told The Indian Express after crossing over to India.

Shah claimed that he “worked for the army for six years for Rs 2,000 in border areas”. “But, now even if they give me Rs 1 lakh a month, I would not work for them. I was jailed in Pakistan when my children needed me most at home. They have been robbed of their childhood in my absence,” 33-year-old Shah, who has four daughters Tamanna, Naseema, Ulfat Bibi and Khwahish Bibi and a son Syed Akhtar Hussain Shah, said.

“I feared that my father might be dead. I called home from jail in Pakistan about six months ago. I spoke to my mother but my family did not put my father on the phone line. He might be dead,” Shah said in a choked voice. “The jail officials sneak in mobile phones for Pakistani prisoners. To make a call from a Pakistani prisoner’s phone, I had to do jobs like washing his (Pakistani prisoner’s) utensils and other jobs,” he added.

After talking to Shah, The Indian Express made a phone call on the number supplied by Shah. His nephew Tajarat confirmed what Shah feared. “My grandfather died about three years back,” Tajarat said.

Shah’s wife, Zarina Bibi, said, “I had made a wish that if my husband returns home, I would offer a bakra at Ziarat Sharif in Kazi Nag. My wish has been fulfilled.”

Pointing to his chipped teeth, which he claimed were broken after a Pakistani official punched him on chin after he was caught, Shah said he was brutally tortured. He claimed to have spent two-and-a-half years in ISI detention and the remaining period in a jail.

Shah feared that he would now be “tortured” by the Indian Army. “I fear that I would now be tortured by the Indian Army. In that case, I would have to seek help from the government,” he said.

-via Express India.

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