Missing 54 in 1971 India and Pakistan War due to Bangladesh Country

 

             Missing 54 in 1971 In India and Pakistan War due to Bangladesh Born

             They are called "the missing 54" - Indian soldiers forgotten in the fog of past wars with Pakistan, and who appear to have slipped through the cracks of the rival neighbours' troubled history.

India and Pakistan have twice gone to war over territory in the disputed region of Kashmir - in 1947-48 and in 1965. Then, in 1971, Pakistan lost a 13-day war to India, resulting in its eastern half - separated from the rest of the country by more than 1,600km (990 miles) of India - emerging as the sovereign nation of Bangladesh.

         

Missing 54  Soldiers

           On 16th of December 2017 India celebrated the 46th anniversary of a landmark event in its modern history. It celebrated the day on which during the 1971 India Pakistan war, the Pakistani forces in the east agreed to a complete and unconditional surrender. It is the day on which the 1971 war ended.

                  

                                                      Indian Flag

      These are the families of the 54 Indian prisoners of war PoW who were never released by Pakistan after the war. Their names are as follows:

       Here is the list of the PoWs:

Indian Army

1.     Major SPS Waraich IC-1271215 Punjab
2. Major Kanwaljit Singh Sandhu IC-1459015 Punjab
3. 2/Lt Sudhir Mohan Sabharwal SS-2395787 Lt Regiment
4. Capt Ravinder Kaura SS-2009539 Med Regiment
5. Capt Giri Raj Singh IC-232835 Assam
6. Capt Om Prakash Dalal SS-22536 Grenadiers
7. Maj AK Ghosh IC-1879015 Rajput
8. Maj AK Suri SS-198075 Assam
9. Capt Kalyan Singh Rathod IC-281485 Assam
10. Major Jaskiran Singh Malik IC-144578 Raj.Rifles
11. Major SC Guleri IC-202309 Jat
12. Lt Vijay Kumar Azad IC-585891/9GR
13. Capt Kamal Bakshi IC-192945 Sikh
14. 2/Lt Paras Ram Sharma SS-224905/8GR
15. Capt Vashisht Nath
16. L/Hv.Krishna Lal Sharma 137195851 JAKRIF
17. Subedar Assa Singh JC-413395 Sikh
18. Subedar Kalidas JC-598 JAKLI
19. L/Nk Jagdish Raj 9208735 Mahar Regiment
20. L/Nk Hazoora Singh 682211303
21. Gunner Sujan Singh 114681914 Fd Regiment
22. Sepoy Daler Singh 246183015 Punjab
23. Gnr Pal Singh 1239603181 Lt Regiment
24. Sepoy Jagir Singh 245908716 Punjab
25. Gnr Madan Mohan 115741994 Mountain Regiment
26. Gnr Gyan Chand Gnr Shyam Singh
27. L/Nk Balbir Singh SBS Chauhan
28. Capt DS Jamwal 81 Field Regiment
29. Capt Washisht Nath Attock

                    

                                       (Indian in Pakistan Jail)

Indian Air Force

30. Sq Ldr Mohinder Kumar Jain 5327-F(P) 27 Sqn
31. Flt Lt Sudhir Kumar Goswami 8956-F(P) 5 Sqn
32. Flying Officer Sudhir Tyagi 10871-F(P) 27 Sqn
33. Flt Lt Vijay Vasant Tambay 7662–F(P) 32 Sqn
34. Flt Lt Nagaswami Shanker 9773-F(P) 32 Sqn
35. Flt Lt Ram Metharam Advani 7812-F(P) JBCU
36. Flt Lt Manohar Purohit 10249(N) 5 Sqn
37. Flt Lt Tanmaya Singh Dandoss 8160-F(P) 26 Sqn
38. Wg Cdr Hersern Singh Gill 4657-F(P) 47 Sqn
39. Flt Lt Babul Guha 5105-F(P)
40. Flt Lt Suresh Chander Sandal 8659-F(P) 35Sqn
41. Sqn Ldr Jal Manikshaw Mistry 5006-F(P)
42. Flt Lt Harvinder Singh 9441-F(P) 222Sqn
43. Sqn Ldr Jatinder Das Kumar 4896-F(P) 3Sqn
44. Flt Lt LM Sassoon 7419-F(P) JBCU
45. Flt Lt Kushalpal Singh Nanda 7819-F(N) 35Sqn
46. Flg Offr. Krishan L Malkani 10576-F(P) 27Sqn
47. Flt Lt Ashok Balwant Dhavale 9030-F(P) 1 Sqn
48. Flt Lt Shrikant C Mahajan 10239-F(P) 5 Sqn
49. Flt Lt Gurdev Singh Rai 9015-F(P) 27 Sqn
50. Flt Lt Ramesh G Kadam 8404-F(P) TACDE
51. Flg Offr. KP Murlidharan 10575-F(P) 20 Sqn
52. Sqn Ldr Devaprasad Chatterjee
53. Plt Offr Tejinder Singh Sethi

Indian Navy

54. Lt. Cdr Ashok Roy

 

     

 

          

Every single name that you read here is a soldier who fought for India. They were captured in action and spent the rest of their lives rotting in Pakistani jails. Can you imagine the type of mental agony that they must have undergone there? They must have lived in hope that one day they will be released and slowly the hope faded away. It has been 45 years. How many of them will be alive and in what condition? What kind of miserable existence they must have endured over there? What kind of physical and mental torture they must have endured there ?

                        

                         (Vijay Diwas)

         on December 26, 1974, R.S. Suri received a hand-written note dated December 7, 1974 from his son. The letter contained a slip in which his son had written, “I am okay here.” The covering note read, “Sahib, valaikumsalam, I cannot meet you in person. Your son is alive and he is in Pakistan. I could only bring his slip, which I am sending you. Now going back to Pak.” Signed M. Abdul Hamid. In August, 1975, he received another missive postmark dated ‘June 14/15/16, 1975, Karachi.’ The letter said, “Dear Daddy, Ashok touches thy feet to get your benediction. I am quite ok here. Please try to contact the Indian Army or Government of India about us. We are 20 officers here. Don’t worry about me. Pay my regards to everybody at home, specially to mummy, grandfather – Indian government can contact Pakistan government for our freedom.” The then Defence Secretary had the handwriting confirmed as Ashok’s and changed the official statement from “killed in action” to “missing in action”!

                          

                                                             (Pakistan Flag)

·        Maj AK Ghosh’s photograph was published in Time Magazine dated 27-12-1971 The photograph is proof that Maj AK Ghosh was in Pakistani custody when the war ended on 17 December 1971. He did not return with the POWs in 1972 at the time of the Simla agreement. He may have died in the interim period in a Pakistani jail. Surely there must be some record of that. The Indian and Pakistan governments can work together to find out what happened to such men. Why were some names not included in the POW list is again a moot point.

·        Mohanlal Bhaskar repatriated on 09.12.1974 writes “Main Bharat ka jasoos tha” or “ I spied for India” Mohanlal Bhaskar, who was in a jail between 1968 and 1974 and repatriated on 09.12.1974 wrote a book in Hindi ( I was a spy for India) and gave a signed affidavit stating that he met a Col Asif Shafi of Second Punjab regt of Pakistan and a Maj Ayaaz Ahmed Sipra in Fort of Attock imprisoned for conspiring against Bhutto in the infamous “Attock conspiracy” . The Pakistani Major Ayaaz Ahmed Sipra spoke of his befriending a Gill of the Indian Air Force and a Captain Singh of the Indian Army as well as mentioning that there were around 40 Pows of the 1965 and 1971 wars in that jail who had no chances of release .

                                

 (Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi)

        Last July, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government told parliament there were 83 Indian soldiers, including the "missing 54", in Pakistan's custody. The rest are possibly soldiers who "strayed across the border" or were captured for alleged espionage. Pakistan has consistently denied holding any Indian prisoners of war.

          "54 of the Indian war prisoners are still in Pakistan jails. Some of them are believed to be alive, some might be facing serious mental and physical health issue or some might have died of torture," President, All India Defense Brotherhood, Brigadier (Retd) Harwant Singh.

               

 (Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi)

       Bhutto’s daughter Benazir was fully aware of the presence of Indian PoW’s being illegally detained in Pakistani jails. She had assured the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi that she would “seriously look into their release.” Three decades have passed . In 1972, Amar Jawan Jyoti, a memorial with an inverted rifle and a soldier’s helmet surrounded by an urn which holds a continuously burning flame, was built at India Gate to commemorate the martyred soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces who gave up their lives during the war.

                            

(Bangladesh Flag)

         The government has informed the Supreme Court that it has no details regarding 54 missing defence personnel believed to be held captive as prisoners of wars (POWs) in Pakistan jails after 1965 and 1971 wars. It further added that it cannot even identify three such Army personnel since their service records, unit and family details were not known.

                                 

       For close to five decades these soldiers who were then in their prime age faced imprisonment. Apart from their identities, India does not have a single clue about their physical and mental condition, the treatment meted out to them as Pakistan even denies their existence, their health condition, and the number of PoWs alive and dead and under what circumstances. In return for their services, the soldiers have received the message of total abandonment by us and multiple governments.

                  

               

Evidence suggests that the PoWs had maintained hope of India securing their release on urgent basis. Among the material of the evidence of their presence in Pakistani jails is a correspondence between one Indian PoW who requests his father to reach the Indian government to ask Pakistan for their release. But what also lies in the heap of these proofs is the sordid situation of PoWs.

              

 (India Gate Amar Jyoti)

Victoria Schofield in her book Bhutto: Trial and Execution says that Former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto heard screams of men from behind his wall.

 

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Best wishes from

               

    Suvendu Singha.(India,Odisha, Balasore, Jaleswar)