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War damages lost? India, Japan in denial mode
Published on Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 12:39, Updated on Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 13:05 in India section
Tags: Second World War, War Victims , New Delhi
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New Delhi: Japanese forces occupied the picture perfect archipelago – Andaman and Nicobar Islands – in 1942 during the Second World War and had reportedly killed nearly 1,000 Indians, including women and children. But the Government of India has denied the descendants of those war victims a compensation that was paid by the Japanese government 44 years ago.
In fact, not many people know that Japan had paid 9 million Yen, valued at more than Rs 150 crore today if kept untouched in a bank, to the Indian Government to be paid to the war victims.
Descendants of Japanese war victims formed the Homfraygunj Martyr's Memorial Committee in Port Blair in the late 80s when they came to know about the Japanese compensation.
The Committee had written letters to Indian prime ministers and presidents for the last 20 years till a reply came in 2002.
During the NDA regime, the Home Ministry officially accepted that the Indian and Japanese governments had signed a contract way back in 1963. The documents clearly show that 9 million Yen was paid to the Government of India.
“Government of India is the trustee of the money. But now they say they don’t know where the money has gone,” lawyer for Homfraygunj Martyr's Memorial Committee, Bhupender Yadav, said.
However, now three months back, the UPA Government decided to contest that claim. They opposed the petition in the High Court in Andaman Islands in the strongest words, terming it vexatious, malafide and motivated.
But the Government forgot to tell their lawyer not to include one particular document as annexture in this petition, which is from the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs that is marked confidential.
Sent in 2007, it clearly states that the compensation money was kept in Bank of Tokyo accounts in Bombay and Calcutta and the Mitsui Bank in Mumbai.
Interestingly, every ministry claims that they have no record of actual payment of this amount to the Government of India. The Japanese embassy, too, has refused to respond.
Now no one apparently knows where the money has vanished even as the next generation of the war victims await the compensation that has been due to them for decades now.
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what else we can expect from indian politician who will even suck the blood from the dead!
abducting.. killing..
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Iam sad this independence day, because we are a country of deniers and a anarchic democracy which surely doesnât respect
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