Tuesday, February 1 2005 16:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Over the years every improvement in Indo-Pak relations has been looked upon with hope by dozens of women, whose husbands are still languishing in Pakistani jails.

But with no action for their release imminent from the other side of the border, these "war-widows" have almost lost hope of a reunion.

"For the past 34 years, we have been running from pillar to post seeking release of our dear ones lodged as Prisoners of War (PoW) in Pakistani jails, but to no avail," says Damayanti Tambay, whose husband Flt Lt Vijay Vasant Tambay was declared missing in action in the 1971 war.

Damayanti, along with relatives of 54 such PoWs, held a candle light vigil near India Gate in New Delhi last evening (Jan 31, 2005), to persuade the Government to initiate talks with Pakistan to secure their release.

"I have enough evidence to prove that my husband is in a jail on the other side of the border. 'The Sunday Observer' of Pakistan dated December 5, 1971, carried the news that five IAF pilots, along with my husband had been arrested alive," she says showing a clipping of the news item.

"Daljit Singh, another PoW repatriated in 1988, had also said that he had seen my husband at an interrogation centre in Lahore in 1978," Damayanti says, adding that India could not secure his release, as Pakistan had not included him in the PoW list.

"'Time' magazine, dated December 24, 1971, carried a photo of an Indian prisoner behind bars. The photo turned out to be that of Major A K Ghosh, who did not return with the rest of the PoWs," she says.

Dolly Advani, whose father Flt Lt Ram Metharam Advani's Canberra aircraft was shot down on December 5, 1971, says that her father's name was announced by Pakistan Radio as one of the pilots captured, but his name did not figure anywhere in the PoW list of Pakistan.

"After the 1971 war was over, the Pakistan Government prepared three lists of PoWs. Though the people in the first two lists were exchanged, those in the third list are still languishing in Pakistani jails," Dolly says.

"Though Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, during his visit to Agra in 2001, denied that there were any Indian PoWs in his country, the recent return of two Indian soldiers taken as prisoners during Kargil war shows his claim to be false," she says.

The War Widows Association, which had been demanding the release of Indian PoWs in Pakistan for three decades, feels it is high time India raised the issue in bilateral meetings with its neighbour.

"We have made countless representations to the Government on the matter and have submitted a number of memorandums to authorities concerned. The matter was even taken up in the Lok Sabha, but till now nothing has happened," says Dr Mohini Giri, Chairperson of the Association.

"Unless our Government takes this as a major issue with Pakistan, there would be no solution to the plight of the 54-odd Indian soldiers there, whom we still believe to be alive," she says.