After 10 days of poring through jail records and interviewing witnesses, relatives of Indian POWs suspected to be held in Pakistani prisons since 1971 returned home today evening. They might not have unearthed much, but the visit, they say, showed some real progress in their quest.

Since June 4, they had been doing the rounds of five prisons in Pakistan, where their relatives were suspected or reported to have been kept. “Thankfully, we were given access to wartime records of these jails, including two in NWFP. Although prison records in Kot Lakhpat, Lahore, were in Urdu, the authorities have agreed that we can send someone later to go through the records,” said Simi Waraich, daughter of Major S S Waraich, who is believed to be in a Pakistani jail since 1971.

A military prison, however, denied access to the visiting Indians. “We did not have much hope of finding them in civilian prisons; we were merely exploring all possibilities. There is a better likelihood of finding them in military prisons if we are allowed to visit and examine records there,” said Damyanti Tambey, wife of Flt Lt V V Tambey.

The group, which was banking on a meeting with President Musharraf yesterday, had to be content with dealing with Interior Ministry officials. “Our Defence Ministry has assured us that we can return there and continue a more co-ordinated search,” said Tambey.

“The warmth of the people we dealt with there gives us hope we can work things out. If both governments focus on the evidence we have, the entire issue can be solved,” she added.