Click to play videoChandigarh: When Kashmir Singh finally came to India on Monday after spending 35 years in a Pakistani jail, he probably thought he was leaving his past behind.
But the man, who was arrested and sent to the death row for being an Indian spy, now has to answer a difficult question. Was he really a spy? Kashmir is saying both yes and no.
On Friday at a press conference in Chandigarh, Kashmir Singh claimed that he was an Indian spy.
"I just went there to find out the location of army instalments and find out which tanks and guns they were using and who their officers were," he had said.
But after Ansar Burney, the Pakistan Federal Minister for Human Rights who got Kashmir freed, called him up and told him he was jeopardising the chances of other Indian prisoners being freed, Kashmir has denied ever being a spy.
"I was a smuggler, not a spy. I was forced into saying I was a spy when I was there," he now claims.
Burney, meanwhile, says he is facing flak in Pakistan from having released a spy.
"I am shocked to hear these statements. I did not know if he was a spy or not. I was working on humanitarian grounds for a man who was in jail for 35 years,” he said.
Burney also said the development will affect chances of other Indians in Pakistani jails being released and vice-versa.
“I do not know if he (Kashmir) is saying this on his own or whether people are putting words in his mouth. But it will surely make it difficult for Indian prisoners in Pakistan and Pakistani prisoners in India,” he said.
Kashmir Singh is stuck in a bind. On the one side he is favouring his freedom, but on the other hand he does not want to jeopardise the chances of many others languishing in the Pakistan Jail.
He is clearly stuck in a struggle between truth and diplomacy.
(With inputs from Jasbir Singh)
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