The Hindu : Youngsters pay the price for accidental straying

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 25, 2003

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Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Youngsters pay the price for accidental straying

By Our Staff Reporter

Jammu May 24. The process of normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan having started, a number of people trapped on either side of the border are looking forward to an early return to their homes.

As the border in Jammu and Kashmir is porous, both at the approximately187 km. long International Border and the approximately 740 km Line of Control, incidents of unintentional straying by border residents is common. In the past, the local army commanders on either side would sort out such cases with each other.

However, after militancy raised its head, the two sides tightened surveillance. For India, the risk was perhaps more because of the infiltration of militants after their training across the border. For the people living near the Line of Control and the International Border, thus started a period of agonising pain, as those who crossed the border unintentionally paid a heavy price for it.

Two such ``unintentional infiltrators'' have been languishing in KotBhalwal jail in Jammu since 2001, despite the court ordering their early deportation. The two cousins, Abid Ali (12) and Ali Raza (13), had set out on August 18, 2001, from their native Gurali village, in Gujrat district of Pakistan's Punjab province, to visit their maternal aunt in Sialkot district, close to the International Border. Arriving at the Sialkot bus stand, they wandered into Ranbir Singh Pura sector of the Indian territory. They asked the villagers the way to their destination and the locals, realising they were Pakistanis, handed them to police.

Their interrogation proved their innocence. The court too ordered the authorities to arrange for their deportation as soon as possible. However, in the wake of a deterioration of relations between India and Pakistan (after the Parliament attack), a number of attempts to send them back failed. The boys are in touch with the families back home. They have been writing to their parents from the KotBhalwal jail.

The prison authorities said everyone was hoping that the boys would be able to leave for their homes soon. That may now be possible, because the relations between the two countries have improved considerably.

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