Pak prisoner who didn’t want to go back dies

“Sadiq was adamant on not returning to Pakistan. He said he had been humiliated there for coming from India during Partition,” says Basti Additional SP Rahul Yadavindra.

Sadiq was 20 when he left his village in Basti and went to Pakistan. Stung by the “humiliation” there, he came to India in 1956 on a three-month visa, and didn’t return. In 1976, intelligence agencies tracked him in UP’s Ambedkarnagar district where he was working in a mill.

During the trial that lasted 28 years, Sadiq sought permission for staying in India, and twice appealed to the government to grant him Indian citizenship. The requests were rejected. Convicted in September 2004, he was to be freed on October 24 this year and sent to Pakistan.

On August 24, Sadiq complained of chest pain and high blood pressure and was shifted to the jail hospital. On August 28, he suffered a heart attack and died within hours.

“There is no news of his family. For years, no one had been coming to meet him. We are finding out if anyone from his village is willing to claim his body,” the ASP said.