Indian soldiers who were taken as prisoners during wars or went missing in combat have been largely ignored by successive Governments. This attitude must change
It is indeed difficult to comprehend the manner in which the Government works. In 2012, it took contempt proceedings against the then Defence Secretary at the Gujarat High Court, for the Union Government to finally agree to pay salary and retirement benefits to the next of kin of 54 prisoners of war, from the India-Pak conflict of 1971, who are still reportedly languishing in Pakistani prisons. The sorry tale does not end here; in September 2014, the Supreme Court was struck by the “cavalier manner” in which the UPA Government had handled the issue of these prisoners of war. The situation was made worse by the plea submitted by the UPA Government for not approaching the International Court of Justice, as the Gujarat High Court had earlier directed solely on the grounds that the “enemy country” would object to it. Not that the change in Government has made much of a difference, as the Supreme Court continues to pass adverse comments against the lack of any substantial progress, with little effect. Something clearly understandable since our politicians only tend to take action if either pelf or votes hangs in balance!
For example, in complete contrast, the US, not only has an institutional mechanism in place to deal with such cases but the members of civil society actively pursue such cases through their representatives in the Congress and the Senate, so that affected families can achieve closure. Our indifferent attitude towards this issue is best illustrated with an emotive example that pertains to the India-China air transport mission flown during World War II between bases in Assam and Kunming, over the Himalayas, between early 1942 and end 1945.
In these 42 months, over 6,50,000 tonnes of stores were transported to China, over the ‘hump’, by what came to be known as the India-China wing of the US air transport command. It was this material support that kept the Chinese forces well-supplied, ensuring that China continued to remain in the war, thereby leading to approximately one million Japanese troops being tied down in the China-Burma theatre. Such missions came at great cost and reports put total aircraft losses at over 500 while over 1,200 crew were still missing in action. Of these, it is estimated that over 400 crew are still missing in Arunachal Pradesh.
Take the case of USAF B24JNo 2878 aircraft, nicknamed ‘Hot as Hell’, that took off from Kunming, in China, for Chabua, in Assam, on January 25, 1944, but never made it to its destination. In December 2006, an American private investigator located the crashed aircraft in East Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh. Since then, the nephew of one of its crew, Mr Gary Zaetz, has moved heaven and earth to try and recover the remains of the crew, with little success, despite both nations having signed an agreement for this express purpose in 2012. Certainly, such inaction does not do our credibility much good.
Now, one does not need to be bright to understand the benefits of permitting US teams to scour the area and recover such crash victims, given the hoopla over India-US ties that we have witnessed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come to power. Yet, there has not been much progress on this front. India’s fear of provoking the Chinese, in this context, is understandable. However, there is always more than one way to skin a cat. What stops the Government from establishing a forensic recovery unit, for example, under the Ministry of Defence to deal with Indian citizens taken hostage or prisoner of war on similar lines to the US prisoner of war/missing in action analytic cell,
Such a humanitarian intervention will earn us brownie points internationally without hurting Chinese sentiments and, more importantly, ensure that we establish this essential capability that we currently lack. It is worth considering the fact that apart from the present case of the 54 prisoners of war still held by Pakistan, thousands of other Indian soldiers have also been declared as ‘Missing in Action Believed Dead'. Their next of kin are still waiting for closure.
(The writer is a former military veteran and consultant with Observer Research Foundation)