New Delhi:
The father of Kargil martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia, who was made captive and subjected to brutal torture by the Pakistan Army in 1999, has moved the Supreme Court seeking its direction to the Union Government to take up his son's case at the International Court of Justice.
In his petition to the Supreme Court, Dr. NK Kalia, a retired scientist, has asked the Indian Government to get Pakistan to apologise for the incident, alleging that the latter violated all norms of the Geneva Convention that charts out protocols for treatment meted out of prisoners of war.
While terming the violations as "completely unacceptable", the government said that it would do "whatever is possible" in the case. "Whatever is possible would be done but I do not want to give you a commitment now of any nature of what is possible or what is being done...This is a matter we have taken up at the highest level over the years and we have not yet been able to get adequate stands of the matter being addressed, that is absolutely true," said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
The Kalias have been waging a lonely battle for justice for their son, who was a victim of war atrocities.
Captain Kalia, of the 4 Jat Regiment, was the first army officer to report the incursion by the Pakistani Army on Indian soil. He along with five soldiers - sepoys Arjun Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Bhika Ram, Moola Ram and Naresh Singh - were on a patrol of the Bajrang Post in the Kaksar sector of Jammu and Kashmir when they were taken captive by Pakistani troops May 15, 1999.
They were tortured for weeks before being killed. Their mutilated bodies were handed over to the Indian authorities on June 9 that year.
The elderly couple, settled in his tea garden town, about 120 km from the state capital Shimla, wants the Indian government to highlight the atrocities committed by the Pakistani Army internationally.
British lawyer of Indian origin Jas Uppal, who has launched an international campaign to highlight the plight of Saurabh and five other soldiers, has been helping the Kalias to petition the Supreme Court.
She has been demanding the blacklisting of Pakistan for the purpose of giving international aid.
India and Pakistan fought a limited war over the icy heights of Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir in May-July 1999. India took back all the positions that had been occupied by the Pakistani Army.
India lost 527 soldiers and Pakistan upwards of 700 men.
(With IANS inputs)