Kashmir set to move HC for compensation

Blames Centre for ignoring family during his detention in Pak
CHANDIGARGH: After the Punjab government announced a monthly pension of Rs10,000 and a residential plot for Kashmir Singh and a government job for his handicapped son, the “spy” has decided to take on the Centre and file a plea in the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking compensation.
Kashmir, who returned from Lahore Jail on Wednesday after 35 years, said here on Monday since he had suffered all these years because of the task entrusted to him by the Army, he needed to be compensated.
Without elaborating what his task was, he said he was paid Rs400 per month till he was arrested in Pakistan in 1974. His counsel Ranjan Lakhanpal said Kashmir was on the Army’s payroll for almost three years and a final payment of Rs5,000 was made to his wife in 1977 by Subedar Sucha Singh, who claimed to have come from the Jalandhar cantonment.Kashmir said the Army severed links with him in 1977 after a Pakistan court pronounced death for him under the Official Secrets Act. He regretted that after his detention in Pakistan, nobody cared to look after his family.
“My wife was left to fend for self and our three children with no source of income at all. She would graze cattle and do menial jobs to earn a livelihood for the family,” said Kashmir, whose son and a daughter are settled in Italy. Both migrated in the 90s at the behest of Kashmir’s brother-in-law, who was already settled in Italy.
Lakhanpal said the petition to be filed in the high court this week would seek adequate compensation for the family for Kashmir’s sufferings and also demand the Centre to formulate a broader policy for the many other Indian nationals rotting in Pakistan jails on similar counts.
Kashmir said he would soon visit the family of Sarabjit Singh (another Indian “spy” jailed in Pakistan) in Amritsar to express solidarity.
Ajay Bharadwaj
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
DNA
b_ajay@dnaindia.net