Rajni Shaw, the three-month pregnant wife of the BSF jawan detained in Pakistan since Wednesday, will on Sunday set off on a nearly 2,000km rail-and-road journey to her husband’s base at Pathankot to try and get some news about him.
Rajni said she was being forced to make the trip despite her condition since the authorities were “talking about flag meetings without letting me know” where head constable Poornam Kumar Shaw was being held in Pakistan, and when he might be freed.
“Yes, I’m pregnant. But my priority is to find out where my husband is,” a distraught Rajni, 34, who plans to catch the Amritsar Mail at 7.15pm on Sunday, said at her home in Rishra, Hooghly, 1,954km from Pathankot.
“I don’t know whether they are giving him food and water in Pakistan. Four days have passed, and there’s no sign of his rescue,” the mother of an eight-year-old son added.
Five relatives will accompany Rajni, who expects to reach Amritsar on Tuesday morning after a 37-hour train journey. From there, they plan to take a car for the 112km trip to Pathankot near the Pakistan border.
The family is particularly anxious about Shaw’s safety because of the escalation in India-Pakistan tensions since Tuesday’s terror attack in Pahalgam.
Shaw, 37, a head constable with the 182nd Battalion, “inadvertently” crossed the border near Firozpur on Wednesday and was taken into custody by the Pakistan Rangers.
A source said the BSF had held at least three flag meetings with the Rangers but there was no clarity yet on when Shaw might be released.
Shaw’s parents Bholanath and Debanti wanted to accompany Rajni to Pathankot but were overruled.
“They are elderly and ill; they can’t even walk properly without help. It isn’t possible to take them there,” Rajni said.
She knows that travelling to Pathankot does not guarantee she will receive all the information about her husband she wants.
“At least, I want to do my best. I can’t sit here any longer without updates,” she said.
“The BSF officials have been talking about flag meetings without letting me know exactly where he is. I hope that going to their office will get me more information about him.”
Family members said Rajni had told a BSF official in Pathankot over the phone on Friday evening that she wanted to travel to the BSF office. He tried to dissuade her, saying every effort was being made to trace Shaw and get him released.
“I then asked to speak to a senior BSF official. Finally, at 9.30am on Saturday, another official gave me the nod to travel to Pathankot,” Rajni said.
“If the BSF office in Pathankot fails to inform me about my husband’s whereabouts, I will go to Delhi. I shall visit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office with an appeal to rescue my husband.”
Shaw had visited his home during Holi and returned to his base barely 25 days before his arrest in Pakistan.
Kalyan Banerjee, Trinamool MP from Serampore, the constituency in which Rishra falls, spoke to BSF director-general Daljit Chawdhary on Saturday about Shaw’s detention.
“He informed me that all relevant government agencies and officials are making every possible effort to secure his return to India,” Banerjee posted on X on Saturday morning.
“The DG mentioned that while Pakistan is taking some time, they are expected to eventually hand him back. He also assured me that Poornam is currently safe and in good health in Pakistan.”
Banerjee met the Shaws at their home on Saturday evening.
On Rajni’s decision totravel to Pathankot, Banerjee told this newspaper: “Goingto Pathankot will not necessarily ensure that she receives proper information. They have to keep their trust in the forces. However, going there is completely up to the family.”