Paramjit returns from border disappointed; sans Kashmir Singh

Wagah-Attari, Mar 1 (UNI) The wait is not yet over for Paramjit Kaur and her family who today rushed to the border here in a hope to welcome her estranged husband Kashmir Singh, but was told that formalities were not yet over for his return from Pakistan.

Paramjit, her son Shashpal Singh and her brother Trilok Singh, who had gone to bring back Kashmir Singh, were told by the BSF officers here that the papers regarding his release were yet to reach here.

Though disappointed, Paramjit told UNI that she was sure that it was just a matter of time and soon her husband would cross the Radcliffe line to end their ordeal.

She said she had led a very hard life to rear up her children--Amarjit Singh, Shashpal Singh and Manjit Kaur--who were of seven, three and one year old respectively at the time of the arrest of her husband in Pakistan, and that she even worked as a maid to earn livelihood.

''Finally, God has accepted the prayers of the family. This is a new birth of my husband. All pain and suffering that I went through is over and I am waiting for him eagerly,'' she said.

Kashmir Singh, alias Shallo Singh of Nangal Choran village in Mahilpur block of Hoshiarpur district, was arrested in Rawalpindi on espionage charges in 1973 and was sentenced to death by an Army Court. Later, the death sentence was converted into life imprisonment during the regime of late Benazir Bhutto.

According to official sources, Kashmir Singh who had languished in different jails of Pakistan for a period of 35-year, would any day be released from imprisonment following the acceptance of India's mercy petition on humanitarian grounds by Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf.

The Secretary of the Union Ministry of External Affairs has asked the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Hoshiarpur, N K Wadhawan to ascertain the identification of Kashmir Singh from his family members.

The DC had deputed SDM, Garhshankar and instructed him to send the complete information so that it could be sent to the Union Home Ministry to complete the formalities regarding his return.

UNI XC JN AKJ RAI1958