India had raised Kalia issue at UNGA, against ICJ interference

The issue has been raised twice by India at the level of UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Commission, officials sources said here.

They said they are waiting for the petition filed by the N K Kalia-- the father of Captain Kalia, with the UNHCR for ordering a probe into the incident.

He has also filed a plea in the Supreme Court to direct the government to take up the case of his son's torture at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague. The Supreme Court had on Friday sought response from the Centre on N K Kalia's plea.

However, India is not in favour of taking the matter to ICJ as it feels that it was a bilateral issue and it has always maintained that there should be "non-interference" by ICJ in "bilateral or internal" matters.

In May 1999, Captain Kalia had gone out for patrol duty in Kaksar area of Kargil along with five other soldiers --Sepoys Arjunram Baswana, Mula Ram Bidiasar, Naresh Singh Sinsinwar, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria and Bhika Ram Mudh.

They were caught by the Pakistan Army, which kept them in captivity for over 22 days and subjected them to brutal torture which was evident from their bodies that were handed over by the Pakistan Army to India on June 9, 1999.