ASSOCIATED PRESS
Moslemuddin Sarkar (centre), who had been missing since 1989, is hugged by his brother Sekandar Ali after arriving at Dhaka airport in Bangladesh. PHOTO/Zia Islam/AP
Moslemuddin Sarkar, who disappeared in 1989 and was believed to be dead, found languishing in jail in Pakistan
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“I crossed the border to India in 1989 and went to Delhi after staying a few months in the Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya. Later, I got married in Delhi,” he said. “But I got caught along the India-Pakistan border when I tried to enter Pakistan in 1997,” he said. “I had no travel documents.”
“I served 15 years in jail,” he said, without giving any further explanation.
“Let me meet my mother first,” he said. “I will tell you everything later.”
Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations and often arrest and imprison each other’s citizens for lengthy periods for entering their territories. Both sides have freed scores of such prisoners, but hundreds are still believed held in jails.
After Sarkar’s family learned from the anonymous caller that he was alive and in Pakistan, they were at a loss what to do.
They repeatedly called the phone number from which the anonymous call had come, but were told that it was not in use. Then they learned that the Red Cross helps trace missing people and seek their repatriation.
The Guardian for more
(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)