Click to play videoJammu: Kashmir Singh's case has put the spotlight on Indian spies caught in Pakistan.
Most Indian spies are fighting a difficult battle for survival after spending decades in Pakistani prisons. They claim that on their return they have been disowned by the agencies that once employed them.
One such spy, Gurbax Ram spent 16 years in a Pakistan prison and came home in 2006. He claims that he had been trained by Indian intelligence agencies in 1987, on a monthly pay of Rs 2000, however, after his arrest, there was no support for his family. He is now fighting a battle in the courts for compensation.
"This petition is to claim my rights. I was officially trained for nine months and then they send me to Pakistan. At least, I want my salary for all these years,” says Gurbax Ram.
The struggle for these people does not seem to end. Vijay Kumar spent 20 years in a Pakistan prison on charges of spying. Arrested in 1986, he says the agencies promised him a relief on return, but he got none. He now works as a daily wage labourer and makes futile attempts to contact those who sent him across the border.
“I tried looking for the officers and people who had employed me. I went to agency offices several times. It has been 20 years and either the officers have retired or have been transferred. No one listens,” says Vijay Kumar.
A list of over 32 spies from Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab had been compiled a few years back, with demands of their rehabilitation sent to the state and central governments. Nonetheless, it is a tough battle for them.
“No paper can be given to a spy. It is word of mouth and a matter of trust. It is not a question of disowning him or her, but of no legal backing or rule for them,” says Maj Gen (Retd) BN Dhar.
These men say that they had been lured into spying on assurances of jobs, however, after years lost in prisons, they return to these forgotten promises. When no intelligence agency openly claims its men, and no official records exist, it makes their fight all the more difficult.
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