Indian being freed after 26 years in Pak. jail

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 13. An Indian national detained on charges of spying in Pakistani jails for the last 26 years, is all set to be released in Lahore on Friday, Brigadier Rao Abid Hamid (retd) of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), told this correspondent over telephone from Lahore today.

Mr. Roop Lal, said to be a non-commissioned officer of the Army, was sentenced to death in 1977 on charges of ``espionage and possession of secret documents''. On June 25, 1998, in a rare show of compassion, the then Pakistan Army Chief, Gen. Jehangir Karamat, commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.

In a letter to the HRCP, Gen. Karamat stated: ``Mr. Roop Lal was indicted on eight counts under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and sentenced to death after a fair trial. However, in view of his failing health and appeal for mercy, I have ordered commutation of his death sentence.''

Accompanied by Mr. T. R. Jatav, First Secretary in the Indian High Commission, Mr. Roop Lal is scheduled to fly to New Delhi by a PIA flight from Lahore.

Mr. Roop Lal's daughter, Ms. Sunita, who was only six months old at the time of his arrest in 1974, and is now 26, has been trying, along with her husband, Dr. Krishan Chawla, a Delhi- based dentist, to secure the release of her father. They had approached both the Pakistani authorities and the HRCP.

Contacted in New Delhi, Dr. Chawla confirmed that his father-in- law would be returning home tomorrow.

In the view of Brig. Hamid, the Government of Pakistan's decision to release Mr. Roop Lal was a ``goodwill gesture'' which should help in easing tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Asked how many Indian and Pakistani nationals were held in the jails of the two countries, Brig. Hamid said neither country was willing to share the information. ``They treat this information as a state secret.''

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