83 missing defense personnel still in Pakistan’s prisons; Supreme Court

According to a document presented before a bench led by Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, the Centre sent a list of 83 defence personnel to the Pakistan government on March 8, 2021, requesting their release.

“A list of 83 Indian defence personnel who have gone missing is enclosed. “The honourable minister (of foreign affairs of Pakistan) is requested to check into the situation, their whereabouts, and the early release and repatriation of the missing Indian army personnel,” read the letter, which was sent through India’s High Commission in Islamabad.

62 of the 83 names on the list of defence personnel were listed as prisoners of war, largely during the war between the two countries in 1971, when Bangladesh was liberated.

Sanjeet was assigned to a platoon that patrolled the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch. Captain Sanjit Lance Naik and Ram Bahadur Thapa went missing on April 19, 1997, while 15 other members of the squad returned to their camp. The captain’s family was notified the day he disappeared.

The MEA’s affidavit was made in response to a Supreme Court appeal filed by Kamala Bhattacharjee, Captain Sanjeet’s mother. In February 2021, the 84-year-old mother petitioned the court for appropriate instructions to the Center to facilitate her son’s safe return from Pakistan.

“The Indian High Commission in Islamabad is routinely raising the subject with Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to identify the whereabouts of Indian Defense personnel missing in Pakistani custody and to ensure their prompt release and repatriation,” the affidavit stated. Captain Sanjeet’s name appears on a list of missing Indian defence personnel supplied with Pakistan by the Indian High Commission through several messages verbal.

The Center said it would “continue to take up the issue with the Government of Pakistan, demanding a response on Capt Sanjit Bhattacharjee’s condition,” and that it would “take up the issue with the Government of Pakistan, requesting a response on Capt Sanjit Bhattacharjee’s situation.”