‘Wrongly charged with drug trade’, say families of two Punjab youth arrested in Pakistan

Deepkamal Kaur

Shahkot (Jalandhar), August 23

Following yesterday’s reports of the arrest of Ratanpal Singh and Harvinder Singh (both aged 24) by Pak Rangers on the charges of drug smuggling, the families of the duo have not been able to come in terms with it.

Both the youth had family relations, stayed just 1.5 km apart, come from very humble backgrounds and were working as sand tipper drivers. Both were married and had two sons each. Both of them do not have any case of drug trade registered against them locally.

The families have said that 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 Pakistan side on July 27 and now these false allegations have come against them,” the families showed videos of their sons spotted from far as they were reportedly getting swept in flood waters while completely denying their involvement in any drug trade.

Ratanpal hails from Khehra Mashtarkan village near Mehatpur town in Jalandhar, while Harvinder belonged 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 swept away towards Pakistan. We got to know about this as the local police came here and gave us the 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.”

As Ratanpal’s wife Surjit Kaur took care of her two sons Shalu and Gurdeep, she shared, “Both of us were daily wagers and earned by way of hard labour. I work in the fields at the time of sowing of paddy and harvest of potatoes. Had my husband been into drug trade, we would not have been living in abject poverty.” None of the family member has any mobile phone.

Harvinder’s father Mukhtiar Singh and mother Surjit Kaur said, “We have met Union MoS Som Parkash, officials of the BSF and even local political leaders 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. We want our son back safely at all costs”.