BJD MP seeks MEA help for release of PoW from Pakistan

BHUBANESWAR: Member of Parliament from Bhadrak, Manjulata Mandal has once again sought the intervention of the Central government for the release of Anand Patri, a war prisoner, from Pakistan jail.

Expressing her anguish over the delay in release of Patri, the BJD MP said the family members of the war veteran though highly distressed are still hopeful of his return. In a letter to Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, Mandal requested to take up the issue with his counterpart in Pakistan for an early solution.

Enclosing a copy of the letter written by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to the then Foreign Affairs Minister in 2008, she said that a continuous dialogue with Pakistan is necessary to bring back the prisoner of war (PoW) who has been in Kot-Lakhpat Central Jail in Lahore of Pakistan since 1965.

A soldier of Indian Army in the 31 Bengal Engineering Regiment, West Bengal, Patri took part in the Indo-China war in 1962 and Indo-Pak war in 1965. During the India-Pakistan war he was made a PoW by the Pakistan army and is living a tortured life for the last 55 years in the Lahore jail.

The MP alleged that nonagenarian Patri has been tortured. Mondal said she will raise the issue in the next session of the Parliament.