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POWs caught in Delhi-Islamabad crossfire

Amberish K Diwanji and Josy Joseph in New Delhi

Eight Pakistani 'prisoners of war' have become the latest bone of contention between India and Pakistan.

The story of the prisoners' 'release' is almost hilarious, were it not for the sad fact that it deals with the lives of some people caught in the bureaucratic crossfire between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Indian authorities had grandly declared on August 12 that these eight PoWs would be freed as a goodwill gesture to mark Pakistan's Independence Day (August 14). In retrospect, it is clear that New Delhi did not first check the matter with the Pakistani authorities before going ahead with the statement.

In fact, on August 12 itself, when the external affairs ministry spokesman, Raminder Singh Jassal, first announced the Indian government's decision, we had asked what if Pakistan refused to accept them. Jassal's retort was, "Please don't trivialise the matter," which was an evasive answer at best considering that Pakistan had taken ages to accept the bodies of Pakistani soldiers in India's possession.

Moreover, the Pakistani authorities in New Delhi were completely in the dark. A senior official at the Pakistani high commission did not even know the names of the eight prisoners on August 12.

The next day, with the Pakistanis still silent, the Indian authorities announced that the prisoners would be released via the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has over the past decades played an intermediary role in such situations.

Here again, the Indian authorities informed the media late in the evening that the ICRC had just been contacted, and hence any reply from the ICRC would be available only after both Pakistan and India celebrated their respective Independence Days over the weekend.

But even that effort came to naught with Islamabad maintaining a stoic silence on when and how it planned to receive the prisoners while New Delhi insisted that the ball was in Pakistan's court.

Now, Pakistan has charged India with playing politics over the prisoners' release, claiming that New Delhi wanted Pakistan to sign a "retroactive declaration of war' to secure the release of the prisoners.

Islamabad also claimed that it has completed all the formalities required by the ICRC for the prisoners' release, but that New Delhi continued to delay the matter.

Pakistan has also charged India with seeking propaganda and publicity out of the episode.

External affairs ministry officials have categorically denied the Pakistani accusations. "We have made no such demand. On the contrary, Pakistan has been dilly-dallying in its response ever since India first made the offer to release the prisoners," said an official.

The officials believe Islamabad is cagey about accepting the prisoners since it would then become another implicit admission that its soldiers were involved in the Kargil conflict, an accusation that Pakistan is still trying to deny.

India says all the eight prisoners are Pakistani soldiers.

External affairs ministry officials also believe that one reason Pakistan refused to respond when India first made the offer to release the prisoners on August 12 was fear of too much publicity for India. A 'goodwill gesture' by India towards Pakistan is not something Islamabad desires.

Also, New Delhi was still smarting from the cold reception worldwide to the shooting down of the Pakistani aircraft in Indian airspace, and Islamabad was in no hurry to let the tide turn in India's favour very soon.

The officials also pointed out that when Pakistan offered to release Flight Lieutenant K Nachiketa, who was captured after he parachuted into Pakistan, it wanted a grand release ceremony. But Indian officials flatly refused to be part of any such ceremony and had made it clear that Nachiketa must be handed over quietly via the ICRC to the Indian high commission in Islamabad. And with India playing tough, Pakistan had no choice but to comply.

Meanwhile, army sources said the PoWs are "of no significance at all" as they are all low-ranking soldiers. Officers of Military Intelligence, Signal Intelligence, Internal Security Unit and other agencies have questioned them several times over, but "no fruitful information came through", they said.

The eight PoWs are being kept under tight security in a nondescript building along the road linking Naraina and Patel Nagar in West Delhi. There are no boards outside the building, but a strong security presence is visible.

Sources said the prisoners are in the custody of the Internal Securities Unit in Army Headquarters, headed by a colonel.

The Kargil Crisis

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