This incident dates back to 2023. Floods of water occupied the lands along the Sutlej River after large amounts of water fell on Punjab leading to the destruction of crops belonging to farmers.
The Kilche village in the Ferozepur district was the home of Joginder Singh, Gurmez Singh, and Chhinder Singh who were on their way to get to a safer place when their tractor got carried away by the powerful current of the Sutlej River.
Their families did not even know what happened to them. Then later the news in Pakistan came that they had been washed over the border into Pakistan by the raging stream of the river. The families requested the assistance of local leaders and officials but no immediate solution appeared.
The men were recently handed over by the Pakistani government to India after both countries approved it.
We Had Lost All Hope of Returning.
Joginder Singh replied that our farmland is near to the border. Our tractor was stuck in water. The Sutlej River had us on its powerful stream when we came to retrieve it, into Pakistan.
He said, there were people there who requested us to sit and they summoned the police. The officers had blindfolded us and taken us. During the initial four or five days, we were whipped and interrogated on whether we have been sent intentionally to Pakistan or not.
We explained to them we had no intention of that and we were carried off by the Sutlej River. When they thought us, then they laid off beating us.
We were sent to Kasur Jail first and then to Lahore Jail. Prison was maintained around us in different locations. Other Indian prisoners who had been serving a long time were ashore, but we were not permitted to see anybody.
Joginder: Having spoken to our families once a week, after the license of a judge, about 15 months later. It was at that moment that I had heard that my father had died.
We were not hopeful that we should ever come back to India. One day we were released suddenly and we were told about it. We were much pleased to hear this. We would like to thank the government on the fact that it is thanks to their efforts that we could go home.
We Couldn’t sleep Two Days Out of sheer Happiness.
The wife of Joginder Singh, Saroj Rani, remarked 25 days after the event that we had heard through the news that Joginder Singh and other people had been drowned in Pakistani waters by the river Sutlej. We had already reported a missing person before that.
On hearing the news we were heartbroken. The children cried all the time and they ceased attending school. The only breadwinner in the family was Joginder Singh.
She included that Joginder Singh had the job of a foreman in crop-harvesting machines. Those three are brothers and share a piece of eight acres of land yet they do not live together.
She claimed that the family was already facing financial limitations. As a result of the floods, some of their land was swept away and the river cut another path across their fields. In the coming up, four acres of wheat crop were lost.
When she was discussing the return of her husband she said, we had prayed in gurdwaras, temples, and mosques. It is just that we had no hope that Joginder Singh was alive since we had seen only a photograph of him in the news.
Two of our children had enrolled in private schools. One of the kids was struck off because of unpaid fees. It is all over now, because he is home, and the whole family is extremely happy.
