44-year jail term in Pakistan refuses to end for Sirsa resident

PANIPAT: They have not seen him for the past 44 years. The family members of a Sirsa resident, Madan Lal, who was allegedly arrested by Pakistani security agencies in 1967 after he mistakenly entered the neighbouring country, believe that he might be one of Pakistan jails.
His brother, Suraj Bhan approached a Panipat lawyer Momin Malik with a plea to get his elder brother Madan Lal back from Pakistani jail, where he might be languishing for the last 44 years.A petition for Madan Lal has also reportedly been filed in the Lahore High Court, which has issued notice to the IG (prisons) to submit a report on May 7. Madan Lal had gone to Ellenabad town of Sirsa district for some work on June 24, 1967, but never returned.
Speaking to TOI, Suraj Bhan said that his brother, who was just 20 years old, when he mistakenly entered Pakistan and was arrested by security agencies there. It is not clear from where he entered Pakistan. Madan Lal was kept at the Bahavalpur jail till 1984, after which his whereabouts were not revealed by Pakistani authorities, said Suraj Bhan.
He further said that a Pakistani official had told him that Madan Lal had been released in the year 1984, after which Pakistani authorities did not have any knowledge about him.
However, Momin Malik contended that in case Madan Lal was let off by the Paksitani government, they should have handed him over to the Indian consulate in Islamabad. He said there was a possibility that Madan Lal was still languishing in the Bahavalpur jail in Pakistan.
He said the matter would be taken up with Ansar Burney, the Pakistani human rights activist, who had been continuously working for the release of prisoners on both sides of the border, against whom no criminal cases were pending.
Incidentally, Burney is currently visiting Mumbai to meet family members of sailors who had been taken hostage in the cargo ship MV Iceberg by Somali pirates. Malik said that on his return to New Delhi, he would take up Suraj Bhan's case with him and request him to locate Madan Lal and ensure that he returns home to his family.