It was an experience which he never wanted to recall all these years. For the last four decades, Air Vice-Marshal Aditya Vikram Pethia tried to get over memories of the five-month ordeal as a prisoner of war (PoW) in Pakistan. Not even comfortable in sharing the experiences with his wife and son, he finally narrated the story before an audience of over 50 in the city on Thursday.
“Today the hatred seems to be dying down and the session here has left me a bit relieved,” said Pethia.
It was after a great dilemma that he decided to narrate the nightmare at the meeting organized by the Rotary Club. He ensured that both, his wife and son, an Indian Air Force officer, were not present.
As a young flight lieutenant, his plane along with 11 others was shot down during a bombing raid on a train carrying tanks in the western sector. Captured on December 5, 1971, Pethia was released on May 8, 1972 from the camp at Rawalpindi, where he was being held, on account of his grave condition. “It was exactly after five months, three days and eight hours,” he says.
The enemy soldiers pounced on him as he parachuted down. An unconscious Pethia with his ribs broken was shifted to the camp tied on a cot.
A smiling Pethia narrated the tales of torture of getting cigarette burns in between the thighs, being made to sleep naked on a cement floor during cold nights and much more. The inmates had once requested for one more chapati and got just half.
“There is a time when you only hear the sound but not feel the pain. They battered us with everything – rifle and lathis to even table tennis rackets,” said Pethia. “Imagine if your hands are put below the leg of a cot and someone jumps over it. My scars have gone but the broken bones are still there. I am left with damaged ribs and a lung.” By the time he was released, Pethia was declared having tuberculosis.
Three of his colleagues, including Flight Lieutenant Dilip Parulkar of Nagpur, made two unsuccessful attempts to escape but Pethia was too feeble to even make an attempt. “On their second attempt they were caught in Peshawar as they planned to flee through Afghanistan,” said Pethia. “Now Parulkar is settled in Pune.”
Once the inmates also encountered some Pakistani pilots with whom they had spent time as course mates during a joint training in the US. “We exchanged greetings, they were friends at that time but now enemies,” he said.
Pethia was released some days before his colleagues. As he walked out of the camp with tears rolling down thinking about those inside, he had encountered feelings of joy and despair. “As I was being taken back to India in a Red Cross vehicle, they offered a bottle of Coca Cola. When I asked if it was from Pakistan, the answer was no. Only then did I drink it. The hatred was fresh at that time, but with time it heals,” said Pethia who now lives in Bhopal.
