India adventure ends for runaways

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi

Both countries have released prisoners recently

Two Pakistani boys have been reunited with their family days after they strayed into Indian territory after running away from school.

The boys say they were beaten by Indian police, who suspected them of spying.

A Pakistani official said the boys were returned under a deal requiring the two countries to return innocent citizens straying into each other's territory.

In the past, people crossing the border by mistake have been arrested and charged with spying.

Stole money

The two boys, Azhar Ali, 16, and Zohaib, 10, who are cousins, left for school on the morning of 10 April but did not return home.

"We walked for a day, then took a train, and then a bus to the border which we crossed on the third day," Azhar Ali told journalists in the southern city of Hyderabad, where the boys were handed over to their families by the Sindh Rangers, the Pakistani paramilitary border force.

Azhar said he had stolen some money from his father which the boys exchanged for Indian currency.

"We just wanted to go sightseeing," said Zohaib.

Azhar said that once across the border, they gave themselves up to the police and asked to be sent home.

The boys said the Indian police beat them, accusing them of having been sent across the border by the Sindh Rangers.

"They set up a machine before us and said if we lied, the red button would flash. But the button flashed even when we told them our names," Azhar said.

The Sindh Rangers director-general said the Indian border security force had been very co-operative and helped to get the boys back quickly.

The boys' parents said they had lost all hope of ever seeing their children.

"In a way, they have been reborn to us," Zohaib's mother said.

The parents admitted that their constant scolding of the boys over school matters caused them to run away.