Hundreds of Punjabis in Ukraine jails
From Chander Parkash
Tribune News Service

BATHINDA, Nov 3 — "We were kicked around, insulted repeatedly, and given no food for days together. Any protest invited more torture. We were asked to drink our own urine and supplied only one bottle of water per day. We prayed for death in these inhuman conditions," said Rajesh Kumar (not his real name) a resident of this district, who recently bought his release from a jail in Kiev, capital of the Ukraine, where he was detained along with hundreds of other Punjabi 'migrants' .

Narrating his 'inhuman' experience at the hands of travel agents involved in the export of 'human cargo' from Punjab to Italy and other European countries, Rajesh said that they were treated like sacks of potatoes. Some of them were even sexually exploited by the 'donkers' (sub-agents of Punjabi agents in Moscow and the Ukraine) en route to the Slovak border.

Rajesh, who returned to India, on October 24, after a five-month-long ordeal in Moscow and Kiev said most agents operating from Punjab had connections with Punjabis settled in Moscow during the terrorism years.

He said only Indian government intervention could save hundreds of Punjabis presently jailed as illegal immigrants in Ukraine jails.

Narrating his ordeal he said he and five others were taken to Moscow by air from Delhi in May 1999. At Moscow airport two persons, Baljit Singh and Shamsher Singh of Amritsar and Gurdaspur district, took them to a room "where other Punjabis 'exported' by the travel agents were residing already. We were allowed to make a telephone call to our parents on May 26." he added.

They stayed in the room for about four months but were not allowed to go outside. After four months their agent Paramjit Singh Pamma and his associate told them that the air route to Italy was closed and they would have to go overland via Slovakia through 'donkers'.

In September he, along with the others, was taken to a secluded place outside Moscow by local train from where the 'donkers' took over and their ordeal began.

They were taken to Kiev in a container carrying crates of cold drinks from Donetsky station on the outskirts of Moscow. En route, the little money they had with them was taken away by the donkers, who seldom fed them or gave them water.

On reaching Kiev, some 68 persons were bundled into a small room and given a few pieces of bread as food during their week in the city. From here they were taken close to the border in special vehicles and asked to cross the border on foot. After a gruelling five-day march through forest and hills they reached the Ukraine- Slovak border, fenced off by electrified wire.

"We were asked to jump over the fence and cross over into Slovakia. But we refused, as it could prove fatal. After that we were asked to dig a trench beneath the fence and crawl into Slovakia. We also refused to do this as it was equally dangerous," Rajesh says.

Instead all of them decided to hand themselves over to the police once their agents unable to push them across, dumped them near the border. After two days they were caught and jailed by the border police.

He said he was released and sent back to India by one Gurnam Singh after he paid him Rs 50,000. He said an organised gang, in which Indian embassy officials were also involved, was operating the racket out of Punjab.

Giving name he said German Singh, an elderly resident of Fatehgarh Sahib district, in a letter to his family members, asked them to raise Rs 50,000 for Gurnam Singh, to secure his release. German Singh and one Rinkoo of Kurukshetra, were among those subjected to repeated torture.

One youth from Punjab had died he said although Rajesh did not know his name or address. Most Punjabis languishing in Ukraine jails belonged to Khanna, Kurukshetra, Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga and Mohali.