Amritsar: India and Pakistan on Wednesday handed each other’s border-guarding personnel captured by the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers respectively at the International Borders (IB) between the two countries, officials said.
BSF jawan Purnam Kumar Shaw was handed over to India, 21 days after he was apprehended by the Rangers from along the International Border in Punjab.
Shaw was apprehended by the Pakistan Rangers a day after the Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 26 people were killed.
The officials said a Pakistan Ranger apprehended by the BSF from the Rajasthan border on May 3 was also handed back to the neighbouring country.
Constable Shaw was handed over to the BSF by the Pakistan Rangers at 10.30 am at the joint check post (JCP) Attari in Amritsar district opposite Pakistan’s Wagah, a BSF spokesperson said.
A picture of the jawan released by the force showed a bearded Shaw with ruffled hair and wearing a dark green round-neck T-shirt.
“Today at 1030 hours Constable Purnam Kumar Shaw has been taken back from Pakistan by the BSF at the Attari-Wagah border,” the spokesperson said.
Shaw had “inadvertently” crossed over to the Pakistan territory while on operational duty in the Ferozepur sector on April 23 around 11.50 am and detained by the Pak Rangers, he said.
The officials told PTI that the jawan will undergo a full body check-up and medical test followed by a counselling and ‘debriefing’ session where he will be asked “relevant questions” by the BSF officials about his 21-day detention by the Rangers.
The jawan, belonging to the 24th BSF battalion, will not be drafted in active duty and will also be part of an official inquiry instituted by the Punjab frontier of the BSF to look into the sequence of his apprehension by the Rangers and find lapses, if any, they said.
The spokesperson said the handover of the jawan at the border “was conducted peacefully and in accordance with established protocols”.
“With the consistent efforts of the BSF through regular flag meetings with the Pakistan Rangers and through other communication channels, the repatriation of BSF constable has become possible,” he said.
The jawan was part of the ‘Kisan Guard’ that was deployed for the protection of Indian farmers, who till their land ahead of the fence. The trooper apparently “miscalculated” the alignment of the IB and stepped to rest under a nearby tree from where he was apprehended by the Rangers, the officials had said.
Shaw hails from Rishra in Hooghly district of West Bengal and his wife has been speaking to BSF officers and the press seeking the whereabouts of her husband and his early release in the wake of the military offensive between India and Pakistan following Operation Sindoor.
