The Government of India has said that torture inflicted upon on slain martyr Capt. Saurabh Kalia by the Pakistan Army cannot be termed as a war crime.
Counsel for the martyr’s family Arvind Sharma said the Union government told the Supreme Court that it had no intentions to raise the issue in the Geneva Convention since it was a signatory in the Shimla agreement of 1972.
The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Union government on a petition by Capt. Saurabh Kalia’s father N.K. Kalia on December 14, 2012, seeking a direction that the matter should be referred to the International Court of Justice. The family had even approached the Defence Ministry to raise the issue in the International Court.
But the Ministry hinted on solving all the matters peacefully through bilateral talks with the neighbouring Pakistan.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony in his reply to Karnataka MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Rajya Sabha in October said that, “we are committed to settle differences with Pakistan by peaceful means and through bilateral negotiations.”
Capt. Kalia’s father has alleged that the government had never taken the issue seriously and never raised the matter in the bipartite talks even. Capt. Kalia of 4thJat Regiment was the first Indian officer to disclose of incursion of the Pakistan Army into the Indian territory in Kargil. He along with five other soldiers was taken captive by the Pakistan Army on May 15, 1999 and their mutilated bodies were handed over to Indian Army on June 9.
