Pak govt repatriates 20 Indian prisoners

Wagah, Dec 23 (UNI) The trauma and agony will linger for long in the mind of Shabina Khan, who along with 20 other Indians, including two other women walked free to their motherland through this joint border check post.

These prisoners were all held in various jails in Pakistan for terms ranging from three to ten years for different offences including illegaly crossing the border. While four were frm Punjab, one each prisoner was from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and the rest were from Jammu and Kashmir.

Narating her tale of woes, Shabina in her early forties who hails from Bhopal alleged that she was apprehended by the Pakistani authorities in Islamabad about three years after she lost her passport. She had gone to Pakistan to meet relatives on the Samjautha express and to this day she regrets having gone to that country.

''I was repeatedly raped and humiliated by the Pakistani authorities and charged of being a Indian spy,'' Shabina, who seemed mentally unstable said with tears in her eyes. She claimed that even in jail she was not spared.

Such was her condition that there was no expression of happiness on her face when she was told that she need not fear as she was in her own country.''I do not know where I belong to,'' she said when Indian officials told her that she was from Bhopal.

Though about 70-odd prisoners were to be repatriated to India today, but only 20 were cleared by the Pakistani authorities, as the daily Retreat Ceremony commenced at the check post. As per the rules once the gates on the zero line at the check post are shut no to and fro traffic is permitted.

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