New Delhi, Dec 14 (ANI): With the Supreme Court seeking Centre's response on Kargil martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia's father's plea seeking its direction to the government for raising the case of his son's torture at the hands of Pakistan Army at the International Court of Justice, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today said the government has expressed its sensitivity in this case and hoped that Islamabad would take all the essential steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"I think the government has expressed its sensitivity, its concern and its utter revulsion with the manner in which the late Captain Saurabh Kalia was treated while he was in captivity. Therefore, his quest for justice is pursuit for justice. It is something the government empathizes with," said Tewari.
"And we do hope that Pakistan also realises the weight of the public opinion in India and takes all the steps, which are essential in order to bring the perpetrators to justice," he added.
An apex court bench headed by Justice RM Lodha earlier today issued notice to the Centre and sought response within ten weeks on a petition filed by Captain Kalia's father Dr N.K. Kalia.
The Supreme Court sympathized with the agony of Captain Kalia's father, and said that it would examine whether it can direct the government to raise this issue at the international forum before passing such an order.
It, however, said that the Centre is free to raise the issue on its own before any international forum. The bench then issued notice to Ministry of Defence, Home Affairs and External Affairs and sought their response within 10 weeks.
Captain Kalia's father has filed a petition before the UN Human Rights Commission demanding justice for his son, who was allegedly captured and brutally killed by the Pakistani Army during the war in 1999.
Dr. Kalia, a retired scientist, has in his petition to the apex court earlier contended that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) should ask International Court of Justice (ICJ) to expose the 'torture' that resulted in the death of Captain Kalia and his fellow soldiers.
He has also asked the Indian Government to get Pakistan to apologise for the incident that went against all norms of the Geneva Convention related to incidents of war and capture of military personnel.
Dr Kalia, who has been shuttling from Ministry of Defence (MOD) to Army headquarters and the Ministry of External Affairs, and to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for the past 13 years, wants the Indian Government to exert pressure on Pakistan to identify and punish those Pakistani soldiers who indulged in the barbaric torture of his son Captain Kalia.
Immediately after getting commissioned into the 4-Jat Regiment of the Indian Army, Captain Saurabh Kalia was posted in the Kargil area.
In May 1999, Captain Kalia had gone out on patrol duty in Kaksar area of Kargil along with five other soldiers - Sepoys Arjunram Baswana, Mula Ram Bidiasar, Naresh Singh Sinsinwar, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria and Bhika Ram Mudh. They were caught by the Pakistan Army, which kept them in captivity for over 22 days and subjected to brutal torture as evident from their bodies handed over by the Pakistan Army on June 9, 1999.
Parts of their body were burnt with cigarettes, eyes were gouged out before puncturing, teeth and bones were broken and various limbs and private organs of these soldiers were chopped off. (ANI)
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