India to take up missing soldier Chavan's case with Pak foreign office
The MEA has so far stayed away from the matter, giving space for the Army to try and secure Chavan's release.
New Delhi: After failing to elicit an appropriate response from the Pakistan army on Indian soldier Chandu Babulal Chavan, the soldier who strayed into Pakistani territory, the India government is all prepared to take up the issue through diplomatic means.
According to a report, the MEA has so far stayed away from the matter, giving space for the Army to try and secure Chavan’s release.
The DGMO of the Indian Army, Ranbir Singh had earlier sought Chavan’s release through his counter-part, but the authorities are yet to respond. Chavan, a sepoy with the 37 Rashtriya Rifles posted in Jammu and Kashmir’s Mendhar sector, had apparently ‘strayed into Pakistani territory inadvertently’, the government and the Army had claimed, adding that the soldier had no role in the surgical strikes that took hours before his ‘crossing’. It added that such crossings by civilians and soldiers were not uncommon.
Though it had denied the presence of the soldier initially, the Pakistan Army later, acknowledged that he was captured and was being interrogated.
The Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, had then claimed that relevant channels were being pursued to secure Chavan’s release.
But consistent lack of response from Pakistan is now forcing the MEA to come forward and take charge, the report noted.
Chavan’s family, earlier, had also requested the government to secure his release at the earliest, fearing that he might be tortured in Pak custody.
“We are worried they will torture him, and tell him lies that the army doesn't care about him. That could drive him to take his own life,” his brother, Bhushan Chavan has said.
Chavan’s ‘crossing’ took place at a time of high military and diplomatic stand-off with Pakistan following the Uri attack and the subsequent surgical strikes by India.
Making the picture gloomier, India recently expelled two Pak Inter-service Intelligence operatives working out of the country’s High Commission in New Delhi, citing espionage charges.