The Hindu : Sikh families await return of their youths

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 29, 2003

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Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Sikh families await return of their youths

By Our Staff Reporter

Jammu May 28. As moves are on to normalise relations between India and Pakistan, several Sikh families in Jammu and Kashmir are waiting desperately for information about the fate of their relatives who took to the path of violence and are now living in Pakistan.

It may come as a surprise to many that militancy came to Jammu first, before Kashmir, as it was directly affected by the events in Punjab in the 1980s.

The region witnessed a series of blasts at the peak of militancy in Punjab and a number of lives were lost. The region, which has a sizeable Sikh population, saw many of its youth crossing the border.

A number of areas, mainly in the border belt, became strongholds of the Sikh militants.

The region was ideal for entering the Indian territory, as it bordered Punjab. Several explosions were set off in the city's vital installations and many people were killed.

A number of Sikh militants were killed in encounters, while others escaped to Pakistan leaving behind their families, including aged parents.

In the Simbal camp, located in the border belt of Jammu, is the house of Khalistan Zindabad Force commander, Ranjit Singh, alias Neeta.

His aged parents want to see their son before they die.

His name figures in the list of top twenty terrorists given by India to Pakistan for repatriation.

Almost every home in this area has one of its boys in Pakistan and the families are waiting anxiously for the Indo-Pakistani talks to begin.

Kulwant Singh's son crossed over to the other side in the late Eighties and after that there has been no news about him.

"We have been moving from pillar to post in the hope of getting him back,'' he says.

Says Amrita Kour, whose son too crossed the border years ago: "We only want our son to come back to the country. Let him be tried under the law of the land."

A number of people visiting religious places in the Punjab province of Pakistan have reported seeing some of these youths. "Many Sikh youths from Jammu, presently in Lahore, broke down while narrating their tales and said they sorely missed their parents," Kamaljeet Singh, who visited Pakistan two years back, said.

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