JAMMU, March 9: It was a cold afternoon when the body of Allah Baksh was laid to rest in a forlorn graveyard at Gujjar Nagar in Jammu. There were no mourners, no wailing relatives. Only a few policemen who felt guilty about not ensuring the union of the 50-year-old deaf and dumb Baksh with his family across the border.Baksh, who hailed from Lahore, died. More than 50 Pakistani nationals, who have been awaiting clearance from their government for ‘‘push back’’ for years, are on the verge of breaking down.Having already served sentences in Indian jails, ranging from six months to a year, for illegally crossing over to the Indian side, they are languishing in various police stations along the international border. This despite the clearance given by various Indian agencies for extradition, as their crossing-over was found to be without any sinister motive.Each of them has a woeful tale to tell about the pangs of separation from his dear ones and the craving for a reunion.The long and endless waithas pushed some of them across the border of sanity. Khan Bahadur, hailing from Unni Chak in Sargoda district and currently lodged at the Ramgarh police station, served a six-month sentence in the Central Jail from February to August 1996 after straying into Indian territory. Though his name was cleared for ‘push back,’ he has been waiting at the Ramgarh police station for a year-and-a-half.Khan Bahadur is incoherent but the moment he is asked about the fate of his family, tears start rolling down. ‘‘I had a pretty daughter who was studying. She was bright and intelligent. I don’t know whether she is dead or alive,’’ he says. For Mukhtiar of Narwal village in Punjab (Pakistan), it has been three years of desperate wait. After serving a year-long sentence in 1995, he was shifted to the Ramgarh police station to be sent to Pakistan. He has been there ever since.Though Mukhtiar, the sole earning member of his family, has been in touch with his wife and five daughters through frequent correspondence,each letter has resulted in more dejection. ‘‘In all these letters, my daughters ask as to when I will return. What do I tell them? I have lost hope of meeting them ever,’’ he says.For the Indian agencies, it has become a Catch-22 situation. They cannot forcibly send the Pakistanis back without diplomatic clearance. They also believe their continued stay is fraught with security risk. ‘‘Once they continue to stay in our police stations for a number of years, they could get a fair idea about the functioning and other crucial details about the police,’’ says K L Bhagat, Sub Divisional Police Officer, Samba.
