A group of Indian families returned from Pakistan on Thursday after finding no trace of 54 relatives who disappeared after the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
New Delhi has sought information from Islamabad about the missing army and air force personnel for more than three decades, but Pakistan has always denied it is holding any Indian prisoners of war. The families were invited by President Pervez Musharraf earlier this year to look for their loved ones.
But their fortnight-long trip, which included visits to 10 jails, scrutiny of prison records and meetings with Indian prisoners, did not yield any results. "It was not a very convincing visit," said Damayanti Vijay Tambay, whose husband, Flight-Lieutenant Vijay Vasant Tambay, went missing after he took off on a fighter plane at the height of the war.
"The co-operation from the Pakistani side was not lacking, but we were taken only to civilian jails, whereas we wanted to see mental asylums and other detention facilities." Relatives say there is no proof the men were killed during the war, while they have evidence the men are still alive. Some have letters purportedly written by the missing men while in Pakistani custody.
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