If Sarabjit Singh, who had been declared as a terrorist by the Pakistan Government and can be considered Martyr in India, then why are we not being treated at par with him when we sacrificed our youth for the sake of our country”, members of Punjab based ‘Espionage Victims Association’ asked the Government on Monday
Gaurav Bhaskar, convener of the Association said that there are around 100 spies in Punjab, who had worked for different intelligence agencies including RAW, IB, CID and others to get certain reports from different countries. They spent two to three decades in jails there but on return they only got suffering.
He said most of the spies either die during the torture in the enemy country or get mad in jails there. If some of them somehow manage to come back, the nation do not give them proper recognition and identity, Bhaskar said.
“There is no uniform policy for these ‘unsung heroes’, either to honour or rehabilitate them till to date”, said Bhaskar.
Jaswant Singh, 21, of Amritsar, Punjab, whose father late Balbir Singh worked as a spy in Pakistan and returned to India in 1986 after suffering for 12 years in Pakistan Jails expired last year, still doesn’t know what to do
Jaswant is the only bread earner in the family, who has to run his house by doing petty jobs like helper with painter and arrange the money for the study of his younger 19 year old sister. He has no money with him but a loan of Rs4 lakh which his father borrowed to run his house after returning from Pakistan, to pay.
“When Papa left us for spying in Pakistan I was a child and when he returned I had grown up. My mother worked hard. After the death of my father, I am also paying the amount which stands up to Rs4 lakh borrowed by my late father to run our house after returning from Pakistan ”, Said Singh, adding that neither government of Punjab nor the central government recognizes them.
Similarly, another former spy Karam Singh from Gurdaspur district, who is now called Karmat Rahi joined RAW in 1983 and worked for the agency in Pakistan but was arrested in lahore on June 27, 1988 and remained in jail for 18 years in several jails in Pakistan and returned in 2005. He has been running from pillar to post for proper recognition by the government of India or the state government for more than eight years and still got nothing.
“I have written dozens of letters to Prime Minister of India, chief of RAW, President of India and Chief Minister of Punjab. Nothing has happened. No body cares for us”, said Rahi.
"When I left the country for national duty, my child was only one year old and now on my return he was 20 years old. I don’t want my identity now, however, I want to make career of my child. I want to know for whom did I sufferIJ" he asked.
Another former spy Gurbakhsh lal from Firozepur district left India in 1987 for Pakistan and spent 17 years in jails there. “When I was recruited by RAW, they promised me to give Rs2200 per month to look after my family here in Punjab. But when they came to know that I was arrested there, they stopped sending the full amount of my pay to my family. They only sent Rs600 per month to my family for first four years, and then it was also stopped," he said.
All these former spies have floated the organisation- ‘Espionage Victims’ Association’ to plead theer case at the national level.
“Sarabjit, who didn’t work as spy and crossed the border in an inebriated condition, got state honour posthumously. We sacrificed our whole life for the sake of nation while spying for country, we got nothing ”, said the Association members.
“We have decided to submit memorandum with our demands in a couple of weeks to state chief minister and Prime Minister of India. If they don't reply, we will start indefinite protest”, the Association said.