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Missing In Action: The Prisoners Who Never Came Back
The story of India's soldiers missing in action is one that remains unfinished, a spillover of the wars with Pakistan. These are men who went missing in enemy territory while on daring missions during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars. The nation has forgotten them, though successive governments continue to make token acknowledgements about their missing status. Over the last five decades, there have been scattered reports offering information piecemeal, but this is the first time the saga has been fully told. The result of years of research, the book unearths startling revelations that shed new light on the subject. Amid much hearsay and dismissive commentary, this book is an attempt to find answers to the question, 'What happened to these men?' It also hopes to open up a debate on how soldiers are often used as pawns by governments, even as they pay lip-service to their cause.
341 pages, Hardcover
Published January 13, 2020
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March 21, 2020
Missing In Action: The Prisoners Who Never Came Back
By Chander Suta Dogra
Missing, from our Memories
Surely, it is a sign of our collective apathy as a nation that many who went missing during wars while defending us are not even a fuzzy blur on our consciousness. Not for us the relentless doggedness of Israel or the US in ensuring that no soldier, airman or sailor is left languishing in enemy captivity. We are a nation of short and ungrateful memories and nothing brings it out in such stark relief as Chander Suta Dogra’s superbly researched work, Missing In Action: the Prisoners Who Never Came Back.
The narrative is rich with true-to-life accounts of many who fought during the 1965 and 1971 Wars, and the Kargil conflict, and were presumed dead, often in face of scanty and palpably contradictory evidence. It was left to the kin of these brave men to seek the truth, surmounting multiple challenges of bureaucratic apathy, self-serving political approach and the stonewalling response of Pakistani establishment. The conduct of our own somnolent babudom is hardly surprising – yet it is difficult not to feel the heartbreak of the relatives who wanted no more than the closure of their endless nightmares.
The book is a compelling read of many stories. The case of Maj A K Suri of Assam Regiment who was presumed dead in the battle of Chhamb is deeply poignant – and instructive. His family received multiple confirmations – including his handwritten notes – of his being in captivity. His father spent the rest of his life in an effort to retrieve further information about his son’s whereabouts but could not move the needle even a bit. He even mounted an organized effort for other men similarly missing in action. In spite of securing a visit to Pakistani jails, no progress could be made. He died a bitter man.
There are other startling accounts, all backed by immensely credible data. There is the story of Wing Commander H S Gill, shot down during the 1971 War and declared dead. Yet, there were repeated indications by eye-witnesses that not only had he been taken into captivity, but curiously, he had possibly been shipped to the US to help unravel the secrets of the Soviet-make MiG-21 aircraft. There is also the story of two soldiers returned years after they had been missing, brainwashed and converted into spies. The book is embellished with several such case-studies of human tragedies allowed by the indifference of our system.
Chander Suta’s comprehensive study comes to many conclusions. There is, of course, the incompetence of our military and civilian bureaucracy. We have not even been able to arrive at a figure of missing persons, leave alone details of their possible whereabouts. The two visits by relatives of the missing to Pakistan were clearly planned with little attention to detail. A case in point is the fact that not even an Urdu translator was provided to sift through voluminous jail records. Pakistan naturally used these visits as evidence of its humanitarian approach, while simultaneously ensuring that these fact-finding missions were shepherded only to jails where nothing was likely to be discovered!
One measure that could have held Pakistan’s feet to fire would have been to knock at the doors of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). But all through the five decades since the 1965 War, the Indian Foreign Affairs establishment has steadfastly refused involvement of a third-party, a tenet born out of apprehension that such a move would open avenues for the international community to interfere in the Kashmir issue. Our quest for the missing was thus “sacrificed at the shrine of bilateralism”. Yet, when it suited us, ICJ was approached in the case of Kulbhushan Jhadav, the ex-Naval officer sentenced to death in Pakistan on charges of spying.
Could it be that some of the cases being pursued as ‘missing’ have actually perished in the battlefield or subsequently in incarceration? No one denies that possibility. But what is inexplicable and unforgivable is our lazy acceptance of the outcome without mining for the truth. Reading this fine book, I came away saddened by the confirmation that while we extol our soldiers for protecting the nation, deep inside we don’t really care.
Chander Suta Dogra has crafted a narrative that fills an unattended void. It points to many unanswered questions and offers policy solutions. It is a riveting read. It touched me. And left me angry about who we were as people.
By Chander Suta Dogra
Missing, from our Memories
Surely, it is a sign of our collective apathy as a nation that many who went missing during wars while defending us are not even a fuzzy blur on our consciousness. Not for us the relentless doggedness of Israel or the US in ensuring that no soldier, airman or sailor is left languishing in enemy captivity. We are a nation of short and ungrateful memories and nothing brings it out in such stark relief as Chander Suta Dogra’s superbly researched work, Missing In Action: the Prisoners Who Never Came Back.
The narrative is rich with true-to-life accounts of many who fought during the 1965 and 1971 Wars, and the Kargil conflict, and were presumed dead, often in face of scanty and palpably contradictory evidence. It was left to the kin of these brave men to seek the truth, surmounting multiple challenges of bureaucratic apathy, self-serving political approach and the stonewalling response of Pakistani establishment. The conduct of our own somnolent babudom is hardly surprising – yet it is difficult not to feel the heartbreak of the relatives who wanted no more than the closure of their endless nightmares.
The book is a compelling read of many stories. The case of Maj A K Suri of Assam Regiment who was presumed dead in the battle of Chhamb is deeply poignant – and instructive. His family received multiple confirmations – including his handwritten notes – of his being in captivity. His father spent the rest of his life in an effort to retrieve further information about his son’s whereabouts but could not move the needle even a bit. He even mounted an organized effort for other men similarly missing in action. In spite of securing a visit to Pakistani jails, no progress could be made. He died a bitter man.
There are other startling accounts, all backed by immensely credible data. There is the story of Wing Commander H S Gill, shot down during the 1971 War and declared dead. Yet, there were repeated indications by eye-witnesses that not only had he been taken into captivity, but curiously, he had possibly been shipped to the US to help unravel the secrets of the Soviet-make MiG-21 aircraft. There is also the story of two soldiers returned years after they had been missing, brainwashed and converted into spies. The book is embellished with several such case-studies of human tragedies allowed by the indifference of our system.
Chander Suta’s comprehensive study comes to many conclusions. There is, of course, the incompetence of our military and civilian bureaucracy. We have not even been able to arrive at a figure of missing persons, leave alone details of their possible whereabouts. The two visits by relatives of the missing to Pakistan were clearly planned with little attention to detail. A case in point is the fact that not even an Urdu translator was provided to sift through voluminous jail records. Pakistan naturally used these visits as evidence of its humanitarian approach, while simultaneously ensuring that these fact-finding missions were shepherded only to jails where nothing was likely to be discovered!
One measure that could have held Pakistan’s feet to fire would have been to knock at the doors of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). But all through the five decades since the 1965 War, the Indian Foreign Affairs establishment has steadfastly refused involvement of a third-party, a tenet born out of apprehension that such a move would open avenues for the international community to interfere in the Kashmir issue. Our quest for the missing was thus “sacrificed at the shrine of bilateralism”. Yet, when it suited us, ICJ was approached in the case of Kulbhushan Jhadav, the ex-Naval officer sentenced to death in Pakistan on charges of spying.
Could it be that some of the cases being pursued as ‘missing’ have actually perished in the battlefield or subsequently in incarceration? No one denies that possibility. But what is inexplicable and unforgivable is our lazy acceptance of the outcome without mining for the truth. Reading this fine book, I came away saddened by the confirmation that while we extol our soldiers for protecting the nation, deep inside we don’t really care.
Chander Suta Dogra has crafted a narrative that fills an unattended void. It points to many unanswered questions and offers policy solutions. It is a riveting read. It touched me. And left me angry about who we were as people.
October 21, 2021
This thoroughly researched book is a moving account of the agony suffered by the families of Indian soldiers who were captured in the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan, never to be seen again. It is not just an indictment of the Pakistani state which remained, over the decades, unmoved by the humanitarian crisis but also of the Indian military and successive Indian governments which either lied or didn’t do enough to bring the men back. And it is terribly cruel to learn that some of these soldiers may have been quietly slipped out of Pakistan to Muslim countries like Oman to do slave labour. Journalist Chander Suta Dogra has done a fascinating job in putting together a story that is numbing. She also faults Amnesty International and ICRC for doing nothing to have the men freed despite knowing that Pakistan was illegally holding Indian soldiers in its custody, long after the wars had got over and the exchange of POWs had taken place.
-- M.R. Narayan Swamy
-- M.R. Narayan Swamy
June 15, 2020
A well-researched book providing insights into the issue of missing Indian soldiers and a neglected aspect of our wars with Pakistan and how the world of POWs and spies intersect. For anyone wanting to know about this aspect (I had, since my childhood, known about Flt Lt Tambe who has been missing in 1971 war and whose wife, Damyanti nee Subedar happened to be a National Badminton champion and hailed from my hometown Allahabad), this is a great book to read.
December 27, 2021
A carefully researched book about the soldiers who went missing during the Indo-Pak war in 1965 and 1971. The book unfolds some disturbing insights about the neglected prisoners of war, the struggle of their families and the role of the governments and concerned authorities.
November 11, 2020
A must read book highlighting the humane aspects of the India - Pakistan conflicts. A unique book which you must definitely read!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews