BHOPAL: Bhopal-based social activist Sayed Abid Hussain, who is on a mission to bring back Indians stuck in Pakistan, has appealed to Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to release Madhya Pradesh youth Rajo alias Raju Laxman, who is being held as a spy. He is a school dropout and a mental patient.
Hussain appealed to the Pak PM in a series of tweets and also approached Pakistan’s leading rights activist Ansar Burney to help bring Raju home.
This 28-year-old school dropout from Punasa in Khandwa district was arrested by Pakistani Border Military police (BMP) from Dera Ghazi Khan city for allegedly spying on a nuclear enhancement facility in eastern Punjab province.
Burney responded to Hussain’s appeal and has sought more information on Raju. Talking to TOI Burney said, “For me, humanity and justice are important, not nationalities, region or sect.” He said he would be able to help Rajo once he gets more details on him.
Pakistan has tagged Rajo as a ‘spy’ and describes him as “Raju Laxman of Nimarkhedi, Idor city, India”. As proof that the man they have arrested is an Indian, Pakistani officials had circulated a picture of the ‘Made In India’ tag of his underwear. A cigarette lighter, 20gm tobacco, Rs 15 in coins, Rs 1,100 cash, two blades and a newspaper cutting were recovered from him, as claimed by Pakistani officials. The alleged ‘spy’ was interrogated at an undisclosed location in Rakhi Gaj area, said sources.
Raju’s name was on the July 2020 list of Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministry for consular access .
His story is similar to Budhram Marko of MP’s Dindori and Jitendra Arjunwar of Seoni. Recently, yet another missing person, presumed dead by his family in Rewa district, was found to be alive inside a jail in Pakistan.
Not known how Raju ended up in Pakistan
It’s not known how Raju ended up in Pakistan but his family in Khandwa still believes that he was “possessed by evil spirits”. “We took him to so many exorcists in a six-year period but nothing worked,” Raju’s younger brother Dilip had told TOI.
Raju dropped out of school after failing Class 5. His father couldn’t afford the treatment of his mental ailment. Their house was submerged in the Indira Sagar Dam project and all they got was Rs 83,000 as aid. Farming on 3 acres is their only source of income. Raju was married twice, but his wives left him because of his illness. Abid Hussain is trying to get him home. He has received awards for his rescue campaigns, which are largely social-media driven.
