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He served the Pakistan Army until a year before the country went to war with India in 1971. Now his son has joined the Indian Army.
Ali Hassan, 72, of Turtuk in Jammu & Kashmir retired from the Pakistan Army in 1970.
After the 1971 war, India and Pakistan drew the Line of Control running through Kashmir, putting Hassan's hamlet, until then in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in the Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir.
His son Habibullah joined the Indian Army's Ladakh Scouts a few months ago.
Hassan was reportedly not too keen for his son to enlist. "He joined the army on his own, against my wishes, but he has no option in these days of unemployment," The Hindu quoted Hassan as saying on Monday.
Hassan, who retired as a soldier with the Karakoram Scouts, has slipped into his life as an Indian with ease, living happily as a citizen of the country he fought against in 1965.
"I was part of the Pakistan Army at that time and had to be loyal. Had I been in the Indian Army I would have acted in the same manner," he said.
But after Hassan became an Indian citizen, his pension from Pakistan stopped. While Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, during a visit to Turtuk, promised Hassan that he would take up his case with the Pakistani authorities, the retired soldier feels India should take care of him in his old age.
Hassan regrets that India and Pakistan have failed to resolve the Kashmir issue even after five decades. "Five decades have passed, but the line [LoC] has turned bloody, with people on both sides turning brutal."
And while he is happy living in India, he rues the fact that he has lost contact with his relatives in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He is especially pained to lose touch with his brother Sofi Mohammad, who lives in Skardu.
Till 1989, when a separatist insurgency erupted in Jammu & Kashmir, the two at least exchanged letters, which went through the Wagah border in Punjab, even though their homes are just a few kilometres apart. Now that too has stopped.
"This situation is unbearable," Hassan said. His advanced years do not permit him to run around for travel documents.
Indo-Asian News Service
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