Pressure on Pakistan helped free PoWs

Hyderabad: Wing Commander Abhinandhan Varthaman was released in three days after being taken into custody by Pakistan. Then Flight Lt K Nachiketa, who later retired as Group Captain was in a Pakistani jail for eight days after being taken prisoner during the Kargil conflict.

For 10 prisoners of the 1971 war with Pakistan, it took 362 days to reach the Wagah border.

“There was no war on when Wg Cmdr Abhinandhan was caught; it was a short aerial battle. There was tremendous international pressure on Pakistan to get him released in record time and our own diplomatic efforts were instrumental too,” said Wing Commander V.K. Chatti (retired), who was one of 10 military personnel taken prisoner by Pakistan in 1971.

Wg Comdr Chatti played a key role in the prison break led by Flt Lt Dilip Parulkar, helping the three Indian Air Force pilots escape from a Pakistan jail in 1971.

The celebrated officer, a resident of Vayupuri in Hyderabad, showed the officers the route map of the Rawalpindi PoW camp that helped them escape. He collected stuff like dinner spoons, nails and even needles which helped the officers break out of prison.

Speaking to this newspaper, he recollected that in 1971, 12 IAF officers were prisoners of war. While two were returned to India on medical grounds within two months, after the International Red Cross intervened, 10 of them were prisoners for 362 days.

“We attempted once to escape, but we were caught and released a few weeks later. For the first six months, we were in Rawalpindi prison. Because we attempted to escape, we were shifted to a jail where Indian Army PoWs were jailed. Life became slightly better to live among our own in the jail. For the PoWs, it is very important to escape from the angry mob of Pakistan and initial days of torture. In case of Wg Cmdr Abhinandhan, he was brutally hammered by the mob,” Wg Cmdr Chatti said

Ft Lt K. Nachiketa was captured during the Kargil war in 1999. “My parents were shattered and lived in fear for the eight days that I was in Pak custody. As pressure mounted from India, I was handed over to the Indian High Commission after eight days. I wasn’t attacked by a mob like in the case of Wg Cmdr Abhinandhan. But those eight nights were unforgettable. Like a thorough IAF pilot, I resumed duty as per orders from my commanders (after returning). In 2017 I retired as a Group Captain and now work for a private airline. Life after custody turned normal in no time.”