Wrongly held for smuggling of drugs in Pakistan: Kin of Shahkot youths

Deepkamal Kaur

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Shahkot (Jalandhar), Aug 23

Following the ‘arrest’ of six youths by the Pakistan Rangers late last month for allegedly smuggling drugs and firearms, the families of two arrested youths have rubbished the charges.

Families of Ratanpal Singh and Harvinder Singh (both aged 24) have approached Union Minister of State Som Parkash and the BSF authorities.

Both youths come from a humble background and are working as sand tipper drivers. Both are married and have two sons each. They reportedly do not have any case of drug trade registered against them here.

The families have said they had gone to help Harvinder’s cousin as her house in Chandiwala village of Ferozepur had got inundated in floods. “They got washed away in floods towards the Pakistan side on July 27 and now the false allegations have been levelled against them,” the families said, showing videos of their sons getting swept away by floodwaters. They completely denied their involvement in any drug trade.

Ratanpal hails from Khehra Mashtarkan village near Mehatpur in Jalandhar, while Harvinder belongs to Sherepur village falling in Jagraon tehsil of Ludhiana.

Kartar Singh, who has adopted his brother’s son Ratanpal, said, “It was the next day that we got to know that our son had been swept away towards Pakistan. We learnt about it when the local police provided us information. They took away our son’s details and documents too. Later, we were told that the Rangers would hand him over to us on August 2. We were called at the Ferozepur border that day. We kept waiting for hours but were told later that they won’t be handed over to us as of now”.

Harvinder’s father Mukhtiar Singh said, “I have met Union MoS Som Parkash and officials of the BSF for help but no one is giving us any assurance as to when we would be able to bring them back. The government must act strong.”

6 from state arrested by Pak rangers

The Pakistani Military Communication Arm Inter-Services Public Relations tweeted that Pak Rangers had arrested six Indians for smuggling of drugs and arms into Pakistan