Indian languishing in Pakistani jail for 36 years to be freed

A man reported missing from Jaipur for the past 36 years has been found in a Pakistani jail and will be released on August 13, Jaipur MP Ramcharan Bohra said on Thursday.

He said Gajendra Sharma was traced in May in Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore.

Bohra, accompanied by Sharma's wife, their son and local BJP leaders, met Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh on Thursday and sought Sharma's early release.

The MP said the Minister assured him that Sharma would be released on August 13 from the Lahore jail.

Bohra said Gajendra Sharma was initially jailed for two months, but due to lack of consular access, he had to spend over three decades behind bars in the Pakistani jail.

Sharma's family says he had disappeared in 1982 and that they were clueless about his whereabouts till May 4, 2018 when they received a letter from the local police.

The Superintendent of Police (Rural), Jaipur, had received a few papers from Pakistan asking for Sharma's citizenship.

The documents were forwarded to the Samod police station for further verification as Sharma's original address came under the jurisdiction of that police station.

The documents were enough to confirm Sharma's presence in the Lahore Central Jail, Bohra said.

Sharma's wife said her husband worked as a labourer and had left home without informing anybody. Since his disappearance, she had started working as a peon in a private hospital.

It is not known how Sharma ended up in the Pakistani jail.

--IANS

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