Detention of Indian soldier Dharam Pal Singh: No response from Pakistan, MEA tells court

The Pakistan government hasn't responded to letters from the Indian High Commission seeking confirmation of the illegal detention of Havaldar Dharam Pal Singh, who his wife says is languishing in a Pakistani jail.

India's External Affairs Ministry (MEA) on Wednesday told the Punjab and Haryana High Court in an affidavit that the Pakistan government had neither provided consular access to the prisoner of war, nor responded to its written requests for confirmation - sent on July 7 and 25 this year.

The matter came to light during the hearing of a civil writ petition filed by Dharam Pal Singh's wife, Pal Kaur.

She had approached the court to ask it to direct the Centre to file a case in the International Court of Justice for her husband's repatriation- on the basis of provisions contained in the Simla Pact. She has cited the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

"The Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, has filed an affidavit of Shubham Singh, its Under Secretary, which states that there is no response from the Government of Pakistan so far to the letters written by High Commission of India in Islamabad, seeking confirmation about detention of Havaldar Dharam Pal Singh and to provide Consular access to him," H C Arora, the petitioner's counsel, told India Today.

However, Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain informed the High Court bench that the Centre was seriously perusing the matter with the Pakistan government, despite its poor response.

Pal Kaur's counsel had referred to an affidavit filed by one Satish Kumar, who claimed that Dharam Pal Singh was alive and was incarcerated in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Rai Jail (Central Jail Lahore).

Satish Kumar said he was an inmate of the same jail between 1974 and 1976. He has said he has more evidence to prove that Dharam Pal Singh was a prisoner of war, and has been asked to submit proof.

The case will be heard on November 13.

CAPTURED IN 1971

Havaldar Dharam Pal Singh served in the 4 Sikh Regiment (No. 3346846).

Pal Kaur told the court in her Civil Writ Petition that her husband had fought in the 1971 war against Pakistan on the Bangladesh border, and had been captured by the Pakistan Army.

However, the government and the Indian Army treated him as a martyr, as he was reported missing on December 5, 1971.

Indira Gandhi, who was prime minister at the time, even expressed her condolences in a letter to Pal Kaur.

But Dharam Pal Singh wasn't cremated, since his body wasn't recovered. Interestingly, his name wasn't in the list of missing soldiers.

Pal Kaur also told the court that her husband's wasn't an isolated case, and that a number of missing soldiers had been declared martyrs during the 1971 war, but were alive in prisons in Pakistan.

She cited the case of one Jasbir Kaur, whose husband - Major Kawaljit Singh (a Shaurya Chakra awardee) - was in a Pakistan jail.