Ecstatic after President Asif Ali Zardari ordered his release after 27 years of captivity in Pakistan, relatives of Indian prisoner Gopal Dass are eagerly looking forward to a big family reunion while watching the World Cup semi-final match between India and Pakistan on Wednesday evening.
“I will meet my little brother after a lifetime,” said the prisoner’s elder sister Krishna Devi, her tired eyes brimming over at the prospect as she lovingly wipes her tears from an old photograph of Gopal Dass from the time he was only 25-year-old.
Not surprisingly something of a cricket buff herself, Krishna said her joy will be manifold if all her siblings, nephews and grandchildren could sit together and watch the Mohali semi-final on television.
“They are saying Pakistan and India’s Prime Ministers will be watching the match together in Chandigarh. Maybe someone up there will respond to this appeal of a sister who has been yearning for a glimpse of her long lost brother,” she said even promising to cheer for the Pakistani team if the authorities there send Gopal Dass home fast.
Seated in the courtyard of their family home in Bhaini Mian Khan village in Punjab’s border district Gurdaspur, Krishna Devi, another brother Anand Vir and nephew Madan eagerly await the moment of Gopal’s homecoming while looking over old pictures, old school and college documents and a few letters the prisoner was able to smuggle out of jail.
Only 25-year-old and the youngest amongst five brothers, Gopal was arrested by the Pakistan Rangers and charged with “spying” after he inadvertently crossed the border near his village in 1984.
He has since been incarcerated in various jails in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Mianwali. Both his parents passed away in the interim.