Chandu Babulal. PHOTO: APP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will return as a ‘goodwill gesture’ an Indian soldier who had fled to its side of the Line of Control (LoC) to ‘escape maltreatment of his commanders’.



Chandu Babulal Chohan, 22, of the Indian army’s 37 Rashtriya Rifles had crossed the LoC into Azad Kashmir in September last year when tensions were running high between Pakistan and India.



Chohan had deserted his post due to the maltreatment of his commanders, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said in a statement on Saturday.



“He [Chohan] wilfully crossed the LoC on September 29, 2016 and surrendered himself to Pakistan Army,” the ISPR said.



“As a gesture of goodwill and in continuation of our efforts to maintain peace and tranquility along the LoC and Working Boundary, Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chohan has been convinced to return to his own country and will be handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah on humanitarian grounds,” it added.



According to Hindustan Times, Chohan belongs to Borvihir village in Dhule district of Maharashtra. His family was said to be under stress since news of his disappearance broke last year. Chohan’s grandmother, who took care of him after the death of his parents when he was two years old, died of a heart attack two days after the news broke.



The Indian army maintains that Chohan inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistani side of the LoC. However, several videos of Indian servicemen complaining of mistreatment at the hands of their commanders have surfaced on social media recently.



In a series of videos posted on Facebook, a soldier of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) serving in Occupied Kashmir exposed the horrible conditions he and his fellow troops are forced to serve in. Showing the sub-standard quality of food the BSF soldiers are served, Tej Bahadur Yadav complained that they often had to sleep on empty stomachs as their commanding officers sell off food items meant for them.



A constable of India’s Central Reserve Police Force – which is deployed in India’s insurgency-hit regions, including Occupied Kashmir – also subsequently posted a video in which he complained of harsh serving conditions. “We aren’t allowed leaves on time or given any stipend. While others celebrate festivals with their families, we languish in Jharkhand, [Occupied] Kashmir and Chhattisgarh,” Constable Jeet Singh said.



Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2017.