Kashmir Singh returns to India after 35 years in Pak jails

Sixty seven-year-old Kashmir Singh returned to India this afternoon after spending 35 years of his life in various jails in Pakistan.

New Delhi, Mar 04 : Sixty seven-year-old Kashmir Singh returned to India this afternoon after spending 35 years of his life in various jails in Pakistan.

Kashmir Singh was arrested in 1973 in Pakistan on charges of espionage and put on the death row shortly thereafter.

Soon after his arrival on Indian soil, Singh said, "I was accused of espionage and smuggling. But I did not do anything of that sort and they found nothing on me when they arrested me."

President Pervez Musharraf pardoned Singh on February 28 and gave him a lingering farewell before his departure for India.

Pakistan's caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney, who had traced Singh during a visit to Lahore's Khot Lakhpat Jail also accompanied him up to the border.

"I have no wishes left. I have got everything now. I thank President Pervez Musharraf and Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney," Singh said as he arrived at the Wagah border where his wife Paramjit Kaur was waiting for him.

"I have got a new life," he said, adding, "When I left India, one of my children was a year old. The other was a three-year-old and the third was six years old. If I see them now I would not be able to recognise them. I have not been in touch with my family. I only saw them on television through Mr Ansar Burney."

He said that the Indian Government should also think about releasing Pakistani prisoners in the same way.

Singh plans to lay a `chadar' at the shrine of Baba Farid and for that he would want to go to Pakistan on a valid Indian passport.

Singh is expected to be questioned by Indian intelligence agencies.

ANI