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The News International, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 AN INITIATIVE OF THE TIMES OF INDIA AND JANG GROUP OF PAKISTAN

The involvement of activists and sympathetic journalists may help save a 13-year old runaway from Lahore from spending years in an Indian prison

A real life Ramchand Pakistani?

here are echoes of Mehreen Jabbars groundbreaking film Ramchand Pa kistani in the story of 13-year old Ateeq Ahmed from Shahdara, Lahore, who ran away after his father scolded him for kite flying. The much younger, fictional (but based on real life) Ramchand in Tharparker runs away after being scolded by his mother. He inadvertently crosses into India, followed by his father. The Indian authorities arrest them both. They are released years later. Ateeq too landed in India by mistake, was arrested and sent to prison. Unlike Ramchand who received no legal aid and was unable to inform anyone back home about his whereabouts, Ateeqs father Malik Iftikhar Ahmed got a call from

based advocate Asad Jamal who approached various activists. The respected bureaucrat turned activist Harsh Mander drew the case to the attention of Childline India Foundation, a 24-hour emergency phone outreach service for children in distress, in 83 cities/districts in India. Efforts by Childlines North Regional Resource Centre led to contact with Kuldip Singh, from another organisation in Ludhiana, who on Feb 18 spoke to AS A YOUNG IMPRISONED d is an adoles- the supervisor at the juvenile BOY, Ramchan ly released jail. He learned that Ateeq al cent when fin Ateeq undergo would be taken to Amritsar (so g un near from Lahore and yet so yo t Let no far) on Feb 19 to appear in the same fate court. Alerted by an email message an Indian advocate asking for details about the boy, whom he from Pakistan, The Hindu had come across in the juvenile deputy editor Siddharth prison in Hoshiarpur. The fa- Varadarjan sent a reporter to atther then contacted Lahore- tend the hearing Ateeq. Accord-

ing to the report subsequently filed (Just 13, scared, lonely and on the wrong side, by Sarabjit Pandher, Feb 20, 2010), Ateeq had no idea that the train he was on was the Samjhauta Express. The report continues: That was on January 11, and over a month later now the youngster is desperate to go home. A student of Class VII in a government school in Lahore, he sorely misses his mother, little sister and the group of friends he used to hang out with. Even his fathers scolding is a sweet memory compared to the unfriendly, scary place that is currently his fate. On Friday, the bewildered boy, along with 15 others, was produced before the Principal Magistrate for Juvenile Justice, Ajaib Singh, at

the Amritsar district court. Sharing his handcuffs was a 15-year-old from Bangladesh. The Pakistani boy looked at his handcuffs, and plaintively asked this journalist if he could not be forgiven his small mistake and allowed to be reunited with his family. He recalled that he and his friends had idled the whole day, and when the time came to go home, he panicked. He ran to the railway station and hopped on to the first train he saw. When Indian Customs officers found him travelling without any documents, they handed him over to the Government Railway Police at Attari railway station. But even this was nothing compared to what followed. The boy was taken into custody, after which the authori-

ties slapped various sections of the law against him for running afoul of the Indian Passports Act and the Foreigners Act. No recoveries were effected from him. He has since been lodged in the Juvenile Prison in Hoshiarpur district. Dressed in grey jeans, a matching full-sleeved pullover and rubber chappals, he watched in anguish and longing as families of local juvenile detainees crowded outside the courtroom. Some had a small reunion with their wards. But there was no such luck for the boy whose pleas for permission to make an overseas phone call to his family were turned down by the severelooking Punjab Police guards. Seeing his plight, a sympathetic onlooker remarked: The law should provide for such innocent kids to be deported immediately. The 13-year-olds only hope is his lawyer D. P . Sharma. If he succeeds in getting him relief, he will be back home. Otherwise he can face up to five years in prison. The next hearing is fixed for Feb 26 coincidentally, when Pakistan and Indias foreign secretaries are expected to be talking, after a long gap. Ramchand Pakistanis young protagonist remained in prison in India for years before being finally released. Heres hoping that Ateeqs fate does not mirror Ramchands beyond being arrested for border violation, and that he is reunited with his family at the earliest. aka

Parleys between Pakistan, India likely to bear fruit

Chairman Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi and a leading political analyst Dr. Syed Jaffer Ahmed is optimistic about the forthcoming secretary-level talks between Pakistan and India. Excerpts from a recent interview

virtually stranded in prisons across the border. They include people who bdul Hai, of the Human Rights Com- overstayed beyond their visa mission of Pakistan, expiry dates, as well those who Karachi, shakes his went to visit family or on legal head in disappointment when hunting expeditions. Indian auasked about the number of Pak- thorities sometimes apprehend istani prisoners imprisoned in such visitors, label them as terIndia, or the Indian prisoners rorists and charge and imprison languishing in our jails. To my them. They are then considered knowledge, there is no accurate missing by their families beor credible record regarding the cause neither country informs number of prisoners in both the the other when making such arrests. countries, he says. In fact, neither country proWhile imprisoned fishermen are exchanged from time to vides consular access to prisontime, this exercise rarely ap- ers of the other, until the prisplies to Pakistanis who have oners have served their been put behind bars in India sentences. This results in the prisoners having (and vice versa) to remain in jail for reasons sometimes for other than bormonths or even der crossing, years past the while their figcompletion of ures also remain behind the cur- There is general their sentences as consular authoritain. Apart from unavailability of ties try to contact their families the fishermen, data and across the border there are no records about treatment of each to hand them over to. the total number Hai holds the of prisoners, others prisoners brokers sitting notes Hai. He on the other hand in both Pakistan outside the passport office responbelieves their and India sible for many number may be quite high, but refrained from such imprisonments. These agents tamper with the passgiving an estimated figure. Meanwhile, the Pakistan ports of applicants who want Fisherfolk Forum has records extensions in their visiting of only the fishermen prisoners. dates or additions to the cities According to Mohammad Ali they are allowed to visit. Most Shah, the chairman of the PPF, such applicants are often unletthere are some 130 Pakistani tered and believe that they have fishermen imprisoned in India been given bona fide, official including six juveniles, whereas date extensions or additional there are 550 Indians in the cities. One such incident, Hai rePakistani prisons. Apart from illegal border calls, took place in 2006 when crossing, there are several in- around 100 Pakistanis were stances where Pakistanis are caught with tampered visas. By Rabia Ali

By Shahid Husain The News: The foreign secretarylevel talks between Pakistan and India are scheduled on February 25. How do you foresee the outcome of these talks? Dr. Syed Jaffer Ahmed (SJA): Apparently the talks are being held in an adverse environment: forces on both sides of the border, which have always tried to ensure that the two countries do not establish normal relations, have already started their campaign to spoil the environment for talks. The bureaucracies too have always shown a rigid attitude whenever new options are tried. However, given a changed environment in which civil societies of both the countries as well as the wide segments of political class wish to see the resolution of issues and establishment of normal ties, one hopes the parleys between the two foreign secretaries will bear some fruit. The News: BJP has accused the Indian government of holding peace

Afghanistans affairs to the Afghans. Both Pakistan and India have so many problems of their own that it is quite unwise for them to enter an arena of mutual contest that only adds to their respective problems. The News: Some analysts fear that peace talks between Pakistan and India are only bringing closer the armies of the two countries and this should be viewed with caution. Would you comment? SJA: If the two armies come in contact and become close to each other under an

The ideal position would be for both India and Pakistan to leave Afghanistans affairs to the Afghans. Both Pakistan and India have so many problems of their own that it is quite unwise for them to enter an arena of mutual contest that only adds to their respective problems.
talks under pressure from Washington and has stated that they should be cancelled. Would you comment? SJA: BJPs accusations do not stand ground. All past dialogues -- the Tashkent Pact, the Simla Accord, Agra -- have been influenced by foreign and third parties. The fact is that talks are being held on a bilateral basis. If there is any external pressure for holding them, it should be taken as a normal occurrence in the context of 62-year-old India-Pakistan negotiations. The News: But what will be the fate of peace talks between Pakistan and India once the United States withdraws and leaves Afghanistan in the lurch again? SJA: The ideal position would be for both India and Pakistan to leave overall democratic framework without posing any threat to parliamentary systems, the closeness should not cause any harm. In fact, any genuine confidence building measure (CBM) concerning any technical and military decision is bound to involve the two armies in an implementation process. The News: To what extent do people-to-people contacts contribute to the peace process between the two countries? SJA: People-to-people contacts are essentially important because such contacts have been too limited so far. Their results were also not big. But this is the right avenue that leads to realisation of lasting peace in the subcontinent. Until there is peace between India and Pakistan, we - Pakistan will not be able to move forward.

Then there have several incidents when people went missing while visiting their relatives. They include young Fahad Abdul Hai who has been missing since February 2006, apparently apprehended by the Indian authorities after he went to India to visit his grandmother. However, there is no formal news of why he was picked up, on what charges, and where he is held. Hai contends that Pakistan sentences Indian prisoners caught for visa violations or charged with illegal border crossing to six months or so. However, India usually charges

Pakistanis caught for similar violations under the Indian Antiterrorism act -- charges punishable with extended sentences, even life-imprisonment. A report titled, Delhi PUCL inquiry report: Seventeen Pakistanis awaiting deportation from Foreigners Detention Camp, Lampur, recently published the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in India, a human rights organisation, recommends deporting the 17 Pakistani inmates at the earliest. It also recommends initiating a mechanism for periodical review of detainees, and action against the Foreign Regional

Registration Officer (FFRO) who denied a detainee his right to take legal aid. The detainees have been waiting from two months to about four years, after completing their sentences for the offences they were charged of committing, to be deported to their country, but nobody in the government or the National Human Rights Commission has cared to listen to them. Conditions at the camp were no way different from the prison and the inmates were not allowed even to arrange the purchase of sugar and tea from the market. One inmate was so

brutally beaten up by the police in the camp that he had sustained head injuries and had to be hospitalized According to the report the poor conditions prevailing at the camp may have been the reason three Pakistani detainees recently slipped away from the custody of a FRRO sub-inspector from a hospital they were visiting, despite the fact that they were to be deported within a week. This is of particular concern given the general unavailability of data and treatment of prisoners in both Pakistan and India.

hushwant Singh paid a just tribute to the people of Lahore, calling them recklessly generous. Some time ago, when my friend Madhur and I visited the cultural and intellectual epicentre of Pakistan and set out to find our parents ancestral homes, we experienced some of that hospitality first-hand. Friends of friends hosted us, took time off from work to show us around and plied us with old-world khatirdari. What we hadnt expected, and were touched by most of all, was the generosity of perfect strangers. Madhurs Indian passport had to be stamped every morning, and from the photographer outside the law courts to the police at the station, they would tarry, plying a cup of tea, shuffling for staplers, just to chat about India. What was it like there, how was it different, and most importantly, What new Ballywood fillum is good? In Model Town, Amjad, our driver parked outside 67 B, the house where my mothers grandparents once lived. Despite his plea not to slip behind the gates for photo, I stepped in to a lawn encircling a lovely, old, dilapidated house. An hour later, he came looking for me, brows knotted with worry. He found me finishing a second lunch with Abida and her sisters, holding a baby and chatting as though I was one of them. Finding me in her lawn,

mae Ho wm y ar f o Home
when shed heard that I had come from Delhi to see my parents homes, she insisted I come in, showed me around, and literally foisted her food and affection on me. The Khaliq family had come from Jalandhar just after the Partition. Hostility had given way to hospitality in one generation. Lahores streetscape Losing myself in the streets of Lahore, I played the familiar game with myself, pretending I did not know where in the world I was. Delhi is what came to mind

streets were not nearly as crowded as Delhis. Tall, hirsute men dominated the streets. The restaurants often seated us in a separate family room away from where the men sat. At the Mozang Chowk Nihari House, the thick nihari was served with daal and naan, but the menu was sorely bereft of any vegetables. The old city Enclosed by ramparts dating from the time of Akbar, Lahores old city is still surrounded by thirteen handsome gateways. Inside, the winding roads and knotted alleyways came alive with men racing pigeons on terraces and boys raising their kites into the winds. Women in black abayas swished about in the evenings, shopping, trying on bangles, examining the delicacy of zardozi embroidery, pecking at the food stalls. Festooned with decorations and riddled with artisans selling carpets, metalwork, jewellery, shoes and s er rfect strang pe of embellished textiles, Bano Bazaar is a ty si ro ne : the ge mecca for the pre-wedding trousseau ITABLE Lahore SP O H , IC EN hunters. Tongas clipped by, a radios volHISTORIC, SC ar ers, pani-puri vendors, anar ume was turned up, Noorjahans dulcet Photo: Rahat D first. Neem, juice stalls, and corn-on-the-cob roasting voice and poignant words rent the air peepul and alistonia trees were every- on coals Mall Road, Alamgir gate, Bad- My mind turned to the girl who awaited where. Stately red brick Colonial buildings shahi Masjid, Dera Sahib Gurudwara with her lover by a bridge on the canal. For a such as Aitchison College built by the frescoes of Shah Jahan and Krishan Leela while it was easy to pretend that that I was British for the sons of Punjabs landed no- on the ceiling there was a familiar ring part of a bygone era. bility formed the backdrop to vibrant to it all. Email:geetikaglobetrot@googlemail.com Courtesy: Hindustan Times Yet there were differences. Lahores streets animated with three-wheeler scoot-

A peace initiative whose time has come...

Destination Peace: A commitment by the Jang Group, GEO and The Times of India Group to create an enabling environment that brings the people of Pakistan and India closer together, contributing to genuine and durable peace with honour between our countries. DESTINATION PEACE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
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Aman Ki Asha Quote of the Week

The peace initiative has to be backed by solid measures and not just talk. It has to be backed by political parties and not just the people, or artists, who are already pro-peace.

Mekaal Hasan,

musician, talking to The News Instep, Feb 23, 2010