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Working for Jalandhar man’s release: Pak activist
The police have been tracking his record in Kapurthala jail; his association with the inmates in Kapurthala jail is being looked into to verify his motive behind entering Pakistan’s territory, says official
A Pakistan-based activist, Nasir Dhillon, said efforts were being made to secure early repatriation of 23-year-old Sharandeep Singh to India. Sharandeep is in the custody of Pakistan security forces as he crossed the international border inadvertently under the influence of drugs, say his family.
“After his photograph with Pakistan Rangers went viral, Sharandeep’s friend from his village (Bhoepur) in Jalandhar, Bobby Sidhu, who presently resides in the United States, contacted me with an appeal to initiate legal proceedings for the early release of Sharandeep,” Dhillon said in a video released on his social media account.
Dhillon added that a Pakistan-based law firm has been roped in to contest the case. “The Pakistan authorities have already conducted a thorough investigation and determined that Sharandeep crossed the border unintentionally,” he said.
He added that they would soon launch a ‘Free Sharandeep’ campaign in Pakistan, on the lines of the ‘Free Mushabar’ campaign launched by activists in India’s Punjab for the release of Pakistan’s native from prison in 2019. Mubashar Mubarak Bilal, 17, of Kasur was caught by the Border Security Force for entering India in 2018. He was sent to a juvenile home in Hoshiarpur from where he was released and repatriated to Pakistan through Attari-Wagah border following community interventions.
Earlier, Sharandeep’s father Satnam Singh had said that his son, addicted to ‘chitta’ (heroin), had left the house on November 2 in a state of intoxication and never returned. The family had filed his missing complaint at the Shahkot police station on November 7.
Officials said he spent some time in jail in connection with an assault case. Meanwhile, the Jalandhar rural police have been tracking his record in Kapurthala jail. “We have been probing into his association with the inmates in Kapurthala jail in order to verify his motive behind entering Pakistan’s territory,” a senior official said.
As per the statements to central agencies, his family claimed that Sharandeep was desperate to go abroad after his brother entered the United States through a donkey route. Sharandeep was deported twice, first from Japan in 2022 and from Greece in 2023.
Sharandeep had been missing since November 2. His family believes he strayed into Pakistan under the influence of drugs.
