At Jantar Mantar,20 protest quietly: We are spies,you see

The demands of these former spies are quite ordinary: recognition of service,compensation for the work they have done over the years and money to support their families. They said if their demands were not met,they would resort to a hunger strike.

“We want compensation for the time we were in prison as well as assurance that our children will get jobs. We have many secrets to hide and we do that even now out of love for our country. But the government has failed us. The prisons took away our youth and the government is taking away our future,” Vinod Sawhney,president of the Jammu Ex-Sleuths’ Association,said.

Leading the protest is Gopal Das,who in April 2011 was brought back to the country after spending 27 years in a Pakistani prison on charges of spying.

“I was 25 when I was apprehended in Pakistan. I spent my entire youth there. I have come back to my village in Gurdaspur,but there is no work. The government has been of little help. At least,I got some recognition for my work but what about the others?” Das said.

One of those who returned to India after 18 years in a Pakistani prison is Gurbaksh Ram from Ferozepur in Punjab. “I worked as a spy and was sent across the border when I was only 18. I was caught when I was 22. I spent my youth in a prison. In 2006,thanks to my brother’s relentless efforts,I returned to the country under a prisoner-exchange programme. I’m not married. Yet,for all the sacrifices we made for the country,I receive no compensation and now work as a daily-wage labourer at a construction site,” Ram said.

Others like Ram Prakash from Jammu recalled his days in a Pakistani jail. “They used to interrogate us using horrible methods. When I finally came home,I was physically incapable of doing any work. I now live at the mercy of my brother,with no income of my own. If militants who give up arms can be rehabilitated,then why can’t the government do anything for us. They refuse to even acknowledge us,” Prakash said. He has no teeth and his arms have been left weak because of what he endured in jail.

Among the protesters are families who said their loved ones were still serving time in jails across the border. Seema,wife of Sunil Kumar,said,“Why is it that I have to keep petitioning officers to bring my husband back? Why does the government not do anything on its own? It is them who asked my husband to risk his life.”

Other spies languishing in Pakistani jails,they said,include Raj Kumar,Om Prakash,Kuldeep Kumar Yadav,Kuldeep Singh and Tilak Raj.