![]() |
Abdul Karim at Howrah station on Tuesday. Picture by Amit Datta |
Calcutta, Aug. 31: Half-a-bread and a cup of tea for breakfast and endless hours of toil, not to speak of the abuses that came with it for being an Indian. Back from Rawalpindi’s Adiala central jail after nearly seven years of rigorous imprisonment, Abdul Karim is still struggling to come to terms with his new-found freedom.
The pains — not physical though — are still so fresh that the 27-year-old from North Dinajpur’s Goalpokhor dreads to think of life beyond India’s borders. But given a chance Abdul would like to visit Pakistan once and tell the aam aadmi that Indians are not committed to spreading terror — “hum Bhartiyon aatank nahin phelatey hain.”
“The general perception about India is very depressing. Almost everyone would feel that we are dedicated to spreading terror. They would even discriminate against us on this ground and make us put in extra hours of work in jail,” Abdul, who taught in a Patiala madarsa, recalled.
Arrested by the Pakistani authorities on charges of crossing the Indian border at Patiala in September 2003 when he went to pick up a football that had bounced across, Abdul was released on August 28 this year. A day after he was handed over to the Indian authorities at the Wagah border, Abdul boarded the train which arrived at Howrah today. He left for North Dinajpur in the evening and is expected to reach Aluabari Road station, the railway halt nearest to his house, tomorrow.
Back home in Goalpokhor’s Betabi village, Gulshan Begum is waiting for her son. Her husband Mohammad Tazuddin died in May.
“Everyday they would make us work for four to five hours in small groups. It would be anything from digging soil to crushing rocks or even washing clothes of jail officials,” Abdul said, running his hands over his over-grown unkempt beard. “I would never lose an opportunity to wash clothes since it fetched me Rs 20 (in Pakistani currency). There are still seven Indian who are languishing in the Rawalpindi jail.”
Abdul’s torture had begun from the moment he was held by the guards covering the border. “It was late in the evening when the police caught me. I was then taken to two officers who kept me in their custody for months. Everyday, they would ask me the same question as to why I had sneaked in and I would keep repeating that I had no such intention and that it had happened accidentally,” said Adbul.
After the border police got over with him, Abdul was taken over by the Pakistan army intelligence and the officers grilled him for seven months, often starving him and keeping him awake at night to “bring out the truth”. Finally, when they were sure that he was not a spy, he was put up before a court in Pakistan that remanded him in jail custody.
After reaching home, Abdul is not sure whether he would first visit Tazuddin’s grave or the madarsa from where he went to Patiala for higher training and which then changed his life.
“It’s a strange feeling. Free from the agony of living in a Pakistani jail just ahead of Id, it’s a great moment to return home,” Abdul said.