Seventy-year-old Gajanand Sharma has returned to India after 36 years through the Attari-Wagah border with 28 other prisoners, who were released by Pakistan as a goodwill gesture ahead of its Independence Day.
The family rejoices as the prisoner returns to his hometown Jaipur. Gajanand Sharma a labourer by profession, was locked up in the Lahore central jail for 36 years. His family had no clue about his location after he went missing from his home in 1982.
According to The Indian Express, on August 13, he spent two-and-a-half hours for clearance at customs and immigration check points at the border and was briefly questioned by intelligence agencies. Sharma appeared calm during his ordeal of immigration and was clad in a Pakistani Salwar Kameez, black chappals and holding his belongings in a white plastic bag.
Activists of Vipra Foundation Jaipur, welcomed Sharma with a banner in their hand and waited with flowers and sweets. “We have come to receive him with honour. It is our responsibility to take him to his house,” Sahdev Sharma of Vipra foundation said.
His wife Makhni Devi from Jaipur said the hours had grown longer after she was told that he was being released.
Celebrations galore as the family distributes sweets while Devi smiles and breaks down from time to time.
“I am very very happy. I would like to thank everyone, all those who have been working hard to help bring Gajanand back. For 36 years, mere ghar ka maalik nahi tha (the owner of the house was not home). Mere ghar ki kadar nahi thi (My home wasn’t held in esteem). We lived without kadar (esteem) all these years,” she said.
The report by The Indian Express also said that Sharma’s son Mukesh, was 12 years old when his father went missing and now he is 48 years old and has three children.
“We had assumed he was dead. Then on May 7, we were told that he is lodged in a Pakistan jail. Then on May 9, we completed some formalities and it was officially confirmed (to the agencies) that he is an Indian citizen,” Mukesh said, thanking social organisations, politicians and the media for their efforts to bring back his father.
All these years, the family only had memories and his three photographs to remember him.
“We don’t know anything about his arrival in Jaipur. We were told that he will be back after completing formalities, but it may take a day or two,” Mukesh said.
Jaipur MP Bohra had informed that Sharma had previously been sentenced to two months incarceration but due to lack of consular access, he continued to remain in jail. Nobody knows the circumstances or alleged crime for being lodged in jail.
An inquiry via the External Affairs Ministry led the Jaipur police to contact his family and submitted Gajanand’s documents attesting his identity, the family being told that he was alive and lodged in Lahore central jail.
Seven Pakistan civilian prisoners were repatriated by India on August 13, a week after 14 Pakistani fishermen were released and sent back home. “India attaches high priority to addressing humanitarian issues, including early release and repatriation of Indian fishermen and prisoners in Pakistan’s custody,” a Ministry of External Affairs statement said.
“Twenty-six Indian fishermen and three civilian prisoners returned home on Monday after completing their sentences in Pakistan. The Indian nationals were handed over to BSF officials at the Wagah-Attari border. The Indian High Commission’s team facilitated the transfer,” the Indian High Commission said in a message on Twitter.
“This is a humanitarian gesture to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day on August 14. This is in line with Pakistan’s consistent policy of not politicising humanitarian issues. It is our hope that the Indian side will also reciprocate in a similar manner,” the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson said. So far a total of 178 Indian prisoners, including 174 fishermen, have been released by Pakistan this year.