After 36 years in Pak jail, Rajasthan man arrives at Wagah border

Yash Goyal

Jaipur, August 13 

After 36 years in a Pakistan jail, Gajanand Sharma, a labourer from Jaipur, was on Monday released and handed over to the Indian authorities at Wagah Border in Punjab.

Gajanand’s wife Makhani Devi and elder son Mukesh are awaiting his arrival in Jaipur through Indian Embassy in next one or two days.

The family today celebrated the Teej festival with fervour and traditional gaiety at their home here.

“We have been assured by the Union Minister of State VK Singh in Parliament that my father would be released on this day (August 13), but we were advised to not go to Wagah Border as he (father) would be taken to the Indian Embassy and then he would be returning home”, Mukesh told The Tribune.

“Though we got a message and a photo of my father’s arrival at the Indian border from well-wishers and TV media,” he said. 

“We, especially my mother who was half-hearted after all the time, are getting more impatient to see him. We are counting days every moment now,” he said between sobs. 

The reasons of Gajanand’s disappearance and lodging in Pakistan jail are still a mystery and even Rajasthan Police and Intelligence department are waiting for Gajanand’s arrival in Jaipur to know from him a true tale of agony. 

Last week,  VK Singh assured Jaipur MP Ram Charan Bohra and family members of Gajananad who met him in his office in Parlimanet in Delhi.

Seventy years old Makhani Devi had lost all hope that her husband Gajanand would be alive now as he disappeared 36 years ago in 1982 from a small village of Maharkalan in Jaipur’s Samod area. 

Makhani and her two sons got stunned in May this year when a cop approached for verification of nationality of Gajananad. 

“We all do not know when and how my father disappeared from our village. My mother who is now 70 is illiterate and approached the police stations, searched here and there but to no avail. She practically did not lodge any FIR anywhere. Slowly we all come to a decision that he is not alive," Mukesh, his elder son who is now 4th class employee in Family Welfare Department, said. 

On May 1, a query by the Ministry of External Affairs to confirm the nationality and whereabouts of Gajanand Sharma, the State Intelligence (CID) marked the inquiry to the Samod police station to verify the details.

Meanwhile, the family had moved to Jaipur’s Brahampuri area and left the village. Samod police finally traced the affected family and confirmed that it is Gajanand Sharma and presently lodged in Pakitan’s jail.

On May 18,  Samod police SP (Jaipur Rural) Rameshwar Singh had verified to us Gajanand’s nationality and present location of the family in Jaipur’s Brahampuri area. Now IB has marked the inquiry for further verification to DCP-North here, then after receiving it, a report would be submitted to the MEA.  

According to a report, Pakistan on Monday released 30 Indian prisoners, including 27 fishermen, from jail as a goodwill gesture ahead of the country’s Independence Day tomorrow.

The release of the prisoners “is in line with Pakistan’s consistent policy of not politicising humanitarian issues”, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said in a statement.