'We hope Musharraf won't let us down'

Thirty-six years after the disappearance of her husband during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Nirmal Kaur is ready to visit Pakistan in search of Subedar Assa Singh after President Parvez Musharraf's offer to let the relatives of prisoners of war search for their loved ones.

"I have decided to go to Pakistan to find my husband who disappeared in the battle of Chamb Jorian in 1971 in Jammu district," Kaur said while packing her baggage for the visit. This will be Kaur's 13th visit to Pakistan in search of her husband. She said her earlier efforts to trace her husband have failed as Pakistani authorities did not help.

"But the recent statement of Musharraf has given us a new hope for tracing our relatives," Kaur said, adding: "I hope Musharraf will stand by his statement and help us fulfill our last wish of meeting our separated relatives."

Subedar Singh, who was a junior commissioned officer of 5 Sikh Regiment, was reported dead while fighting the enemy in Chamb Jorian area on December 17, 1971. But On August 20, 1972, a radio news bulletin said that Assa Singh was alive and was a PoW in Pakistan jail, Kaur said.

Kaur claimed that her husband was being held in Lahore jail but she could not contact him despite several efforts in her earlier visit to Pakistan via Wagah border. She added that recently-released Indian prisoner Bogal Ram told her family that her husband was in Lahore jail.

Kaur met President A P J Abdul Kalam and top army officers requesting them to do something for her husband's release.

Rano Devi of Kathua district has a similar wish, as she wants to meet her husband Sepoy Jagdish Raj of 2nd Maha Regiment, who, she claimed, was currently a PoW in a Pakistani jail. Rano hoped that Musharraf will not let them down.           

Santosh Devi of Udhampur district has readied herself for a visit to Pakistan to trace her PoW husband Havildar Krishan Lal, who also disappeared on December 13, 1971.

Lal, first declared dead by the army, turned out to be alive as per the report of Pakistani radio on August 9-10, 1972, she claimed.

There are 54 PoWs of Jammu region in Pakistan and most of them were being held in Lahore, Peshawar and Kot Lakhpat jails there, according to the relatives of the missing defence personnel.