Mumbai: Amid rising tension between India and Pakistan, here is a story of a brother, who is currently serving the Indian army, trying to get back his brother from Pakistan.
Chandu Chavan, a soldier with the Rashtriya Rifles in Kashmir, had inadvertently crossed the Line of Control on September 29. Since then, his brother Bhushan Chavan has not left any stone unturned to get his brother back. On November 28, Bhushan received a tweet from the permanent representative of Pakistan in United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi.
Bhushan made an appeal to Lodhi on Twitter with the picture of a letter, requesting her to get his brother back to his country, to which Lodhi replied, "@bhushan19101989 let me see what I can do. This is a humanitarian issue (sic)."
@bhushan19101989 let me see what I can do. This is a humanitarian issue — Maleeha Lodhi (@LodhiMaleeha) November 28, 2016
Speaking to CNN-News18 on phone, Bhushan said, "She acknowledged my concern, she called it a humanitarian issue. Chandu must be getting tortured in Pakistan. He needs to be rescued. I have written to the PMO, Sushma Swaraj and the defence minister of India."
@LodhiMaleeha please mam help me 29 sept 2016 pak Army capture was Chandu chavan soldier.Chandus mom dad are already death, Just 6 year.— Bhushan Chavan (@bhushan19101989) November 22, 2016
Bhushan now plans to meet Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs, once he comes to Amritsar on December 3.
"I am planning to hand over a letter to Aziz personally. I know it is not going to be easy as I am a serving soldier in the Indian Army. There is a strong possibility that the army will not grant me leave for this reason," he added.
"For the time being, I'm very hopeful of Maleeha Lodhi. She thinks it is a humanitarian issue, therefore, I think that she will try to do something," Bhushan said.
Bhushan and Chandu's grandmother died of a heart attack in September after getting the news of Chandu's capture. The family said that the moment she heard about Chandu's news of being captured in Pakistan, she went into stress and could not take it for long and suffered a heart attack. Chandu's parents had died when he was a kid.
Bhushan, who is currently posted on duty (location and name of the regiment not disclosed for national security reasons), has been trying his best to get in touch with his brother Chandu since day one of his captivity.
"Although I know that my brother is alive, I have not been able to get in touch with him. There has been hardly any reply from Pakistan before Maleeha Lodhi's tweet," Bhushan added. He said that from the Indian government, he has been speaking to Minister of State for Defence, Subhash Bhamre, to know about the steps taken by the government to get his brother back.
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