SC agrees to listen to plea searching for repatriation of officers ‘detained’ by Pakistan since 1971 battle

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to listen to a plea of the spouse of an Indian Army officer searching for repatriation of officers believed to be held underneath unlawful detention as Prisoners of War (PoWs) by Pakistan for the reason that 1971 battle.

The petitioner has prayed for instructions for taking an initiative aimed toward establishing of a home as nicely worldwide mechanism for successfully imposing the appropriate to life underneath Article 21 of the common declaration of human rights and the Geneva Convention for Treatment of Prisoners of War for defense of mentioned rights underneath all circumstances.
 
The petitioner has mentioned that her husband Major Kanwaljit Singh has been evidenced and heard to be held underneath the unlawful detention of the federal government of Pakistan.

“The PIL is necessitated by the circumstances wherein admittedly at least 54 PoWs are evidenced and heard to be still held under the torturous detention of the government of Pakistan since the 1971 war,” the plea mentioned.

The plea filed by advocate Namit Saxena additionally urged the court docket to direct the Centre to obtain from the International Red Cross the listing of PoWs who had been scheduled to be repatriated by Pakistan in years succeeding the 1971 battle however in the end “not repatriated as scheduled in the third train of PoWs.”

The PIL has talked about 4 totally different instances that are pending earlier than the highest court docket together with the one in every of martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia who was killed throughout the Kargil War together with 5 different troopers of the JAT regiment.
 
“Respondents’ lack of will to ensure observance of Geneva Convention by hostile neighbour Pakistan has led to repeated gross violations of the same again and again, with even more rigour and perpetuity, ultimately leading to the conscience shaking incident of Capt Saurabh Kalia and his men during the Kargil War in 1999,” the plea reads.

“The perpetrators of these heinous crimes of illegal detention and torture of helpless prisoners of war, against the universally applicable Geneva Convention, have not been brought to book till date and nor have the respondents succeeded in release of one single out of the 54 POW, despite existence of a specific bilateral agreement in force between the respondent UI with the detaining power, the government of Pakistan, which is also shielding the perpetrators of crimes against humanity committed upon Captain Saurabh Kalia and his men stated above, besides many other POW/soldiers whose names could not specifically be listed herein,” it added.

The plea has additionally hunted for instructions to the respondents to “approach the International Court of Justice against Pakistan with appropriate judicial remedies, which are coercive and binding in nature for release of all the Indian PsOW held under the torturous custody of Pakistan in violation of the Geneva Convention for Treatment of Prisoners of War.”