Gopal Dass, an Indian border farmer who was condemned to a lifetime of incarceration in Pakistan after he was arrested on the wrong side of the India-Pakistan border 27 years ago, returned home on Thursday to a reunion with his long-lost siblings that was choking with emotion.
Walking in across the Attari-Wagah border with a black duffel bag slung over one shoulder, the prisoner let his tears flow freely as he unreservedly threw his arms around his sister Krishna and brother Anand Vir, happily oblivious of the huge crowd that had come to witness his homecoming.
But amidst his obvious joy at finally setting foot on home soil, 52-year-old Dass has returned a very angry man accusing the Indian establishment of “apathy that cannot be forgiven”.
Only 25 years old when he was apprehended as an “Indian spy”, Dass said he had been completely abandoned till the moment President Asif Ali Zardari “most magnanimously” ordered his release as a gesture of goodwill in response to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation to watch the cricket semifinal at Mohali.