'Spy' languishing in Pak jail seeks India's help

AHMEDABAD: A man from the city, accused by Pakistan of being an Indian spy and languishing in a jail in Lahore for nearly 13 years, has alleged torture by jail authorities.

Kuldeep Kumar Yadav, 41, lodged in Kot Lakhpat jail in Pakistan, has written a letter to his Rajkot-based advocate saying he was unable to bear the torture any more.
    
"I cannot describe in this letter about the torture that I have been subjected to," states Yadav's letter to his advocate M K Paul.

Yadav alleged that the Indian government has not made any sincere effort to secure his release and lamented that his family members in Ahmedabad were not compensated by the government for the trouble he underwent.

Yadav is languishing in Pakistan government's custody since March 23, 1994, Paul said. The alleged spy's 76-year-old mother Mayadevi's can't hold back tears when she talks about his son.

"Kuldeep left us in 1989 saying he is going for a job in New Delhi. He did not specify where has he got the job or for whom he is working," Mayadevi, living in Chandkheda area of the city.

The family lost contact with Yadav who is a law graduate from Gujarat University after he left them, Mayadevi said.
 
"We came to know about Kuldeep being in Pakistani jail after he wrote a letter to us a few years ago. Since then, we have been running from pillar to post to secure his release but everything has gone in vain," she said.
    
Father of Kuldeep, Nanakchand died in 2000 after he came to know about his son's plight, Mayadevi said, adding the family has gone through hell in the last few years.
    
The biggest proof of Kuldeep being present in Kot Lakhpat jail of Pakistan is a letter received by the family from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
 
The letter written on February 1, 2007 by the High Commission, in response to a letter by the family, said "your son Shri Kuldeep Nanakchand Yadav is detained in Kot Lakhpat jail of Lahore."
    
"He has been allowed consular access and his national status has since been confirmed by this High Commission. We are in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan to secure his early release," said the letter signed by second secretary (C&V) B Humpal.
    
Meanwhile, Paul, who is working for the release of Indian Prisoners of War in Pakistan, came to know about Yadav and had written a letter to him.
    
Paul said he received a reply from Yadav last week in which he has written about the inhuman condition he has been kept.
    
Based on the letter of Kuldeep, Paul has filed a case in Gujarat High Court where two-judge bench has served notices to the Union of India which is returnable on June 25.
    
According to Paul, Kuldeep in the letter said that he was caught by Pakistan authorities on March 23, 1994 and kept in detention for three years.

After that, a military court sentenced him to 25 years of imprisonment and he was shifted to Kot Lakhpat jail where he is languishing since 1996, Paul quoting the letter of Yadav said.
    
"Neither Kuldeep nor his family has received any salary or compensation from the Indian government since he was sent to Pakistan," Paul quoting the letter said.
    
"I have demanded from the high court and NHRC to order government of India to pay all arrears of salary from the date of arrest till today and to pay monthly salary regularly to the family of this brave patriot as he is still alive," he added.