CHANDIGARH: With fresh tension between India and Pakistan following the latter’s decision to sentence alleged Indian spy Kulbhusan Jadhav to death, the family of 40-year old Nanak Singh, who is lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail, has lost hope of early release of their son who has been languishing in jail for the last 33 years.
Nanak was just seven when he accidently crossed into Pakistan while roaming in the fields near his village in 1984. He has been there ever since. The son of a small farmer, Rattan Singh, who only had four acres of land across the river along Pakistan, Nanak was the eldest of the family with two brothers Baldev Singh and Jagtar Singh, and five sisters.
Jagtar Singh said, “We have lost all hope of release of my elder brother Nanak. My father Rattan Singh had been pursuing the case for the last 15 years as we came to know in 2002 that he was alive and lodged in a Pakistan jail. Policemen from Ramdas police station told us that our brother is in Pakistan going by the name of Kakar Singh. The name was different but the parent’s names and address were same. Why his name was changed we do not know. Earlier we thought he was no more.”