New Delhi, Nov. 27 (ANI): Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday expressed his distress on grievance against Pakistan over the issue of the Kargil martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia, who was made captive and subjected to brutal torture by the Pakistan Army in 1999.
Earlier this morning Kalia's father, Dr. N K Kalia, a retired scientist asked the Supreme Court to direct the Union Government to take up his son's case in an international judicial forum and pressurize Pakistan to apologise for the incident that went against all norms of the Geneva Convention.
While terming the incident as 'unacceptable', Khurshid said: "This is an extremely sad story. But having expressed our deep distress and concern, we haven't got an adequate response from Pakistan. I express my deep respect to the family."
"Whatever is possible will be done frankly, but I don't want to give you a commitment now of any nature... The matter is before the Supreme Court and if the court requires, an adequate answer will be given," he added.
Reacting to the issue former External Minister, Jaswant Singh said that he had raised the issue before the then Foreign Minister of Pakistan very strongly.
"The issue is so fundamental, it is just not a question of Geneva Convention or the mood of the international conduct between the nations in conflict. It is totally unfair. It is a question of civilized behavior between nations even in combat," said Singh.
Singh, also a former Defence Minster advocated the Kalia's father demand and said: "We should consider seriously the tenability in the international court of justice as a criminal case. It is the crime doesn't get diminished simply because time has passed."
N K Kalia, who retired from CSIR, has been shuttling from Ministry of Defence (MoD) to Army headquarters and the Ministry of External Affairs, and to the Prime Minister"s Office (PMO) in the past 13 years.
He wants the Indian Government to exert pressure on Pakistan to identify and punish those Pakistani soldiers who indulged in the barbaric torture of his son Captain Kalia.
In May 1999, Captain Kalia had gone out for patrol duty in Kaksar area of Kargil along with five other soldiers - Sepoys Arjunram Baswana, Mula Ram Bidiasar, Naresh Singh Sinsinwar, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria and Bhika Ram Mudh. They were caught by the Pakistan Army, which kept them in captivity for over 22 days and subjected to brutal torture as evident from their bodies handed over by the Pakistan Army on June 9, 1999.
Parts of their body were burnt with cigarettes, eyes were gouged out before puncturing, teeth and bones were broken and various limbs and private organs of these soldiers were chopped off. (ANI)
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