Paramjit Kaur, daughter of Jugraj Singh, holds a photograph of her father during a press conference in Bathinda on Thursday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 26

The kin of sepoy Jugraj Singh who was declared dead in the 1971 Indo-Pak war today claimed that the former was alive and languishing in a Pakistan jail. They demanded that the Ministry of Defence should initiate step to release Jugraj from jail. Singh hails from Jeeda village in Bathinda district.Ex- servicemen Welfare Union state president Capt Bhagwant Singh Bhatti, Jugraj’s wife Gurmail Kaur, daughter Paramjit Kaur and son-in-law Lakhvir Singh said here today that soldier Jugraj joined the Bombay Engineer Group and after training was shifted to 102 Engineer Regiment.They stated that in 1971 Indo-Pak war, Jugraj Singh’s regiment was deployed at Ferozepur sector and during the war they received a letter from the regiment in which they were informed that he had died when a shell exploded on December 3, 1971, but his body could not be recovered.Paramjit said they were getting news that some soldiers had been captured by the Pakistan army and are lodged in jail there, so they were hoping that he is alive in some Pakistani jail.She said that they got to know that Indian spy, Satish Kumar, a resident of Ferozepur had returned after spending 12 years in a Pakistan jail and they had met him in 2012.She said they showed Kumar some photos of her father and he told them that he had met her father in the Shahi Qila in Lahore in 1974. Satish Kumar has also given an affidavit stating the same to the family.She also told that in 2004, they got information on All India Radio that he was alive in a Pakistan jail. They demanded that defence ministry should take up this issue with Pakistan government at the earliest and get Jugraj Singh released from jail. They also said that they have written to Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but to no avail.

Demand for release

• The kin demanded that the Ministry of Defence should take steps to release Jugraj from jail
• They stated that in 1971 Indo-Pak war, Jugraj Singh’s regiment was deployed in Ferozepur sector and during the war they received a letter from the regiment in which they were informed that he had died when a shell exploded on December 3, 1971, but his body could not be recovered
• Paramjit said they got to know that Indian spy, Satish Kumar, a resident of Ferozepur had returned after spending 12 years in Pakistan jail and they had met him in 2012