The Prisoners at Last Start for Home

The tiny outpost of Wagah on the border between India and Pakistan had never looked so festive. Beneath red, blue and yellow tents, a makeshift reception center had been set up, and Persian carpets were spread over the ground before the two white metal gates at the border. Then, while a pipe band skirled The Hundred Pipers and onlookers showered them with rose petals, the first of 90,000 Pakistani prisoners, held in India since the 1971 war, stepped across the border to freedom.

India released civilian internees first, as well as the aged and sick. Among them were many women and children, including 300 babies born in captivity. The youngest was a two-day-old infant born during the 600-mile train ride from the P.O.W. camp at Allahabad in eastern India. "Where is Pakistan?" asked a small boy as his mother waited for permission to cross. "Pakistan is there," she pointed. "Pray to Allah. We will see all our people soon."

Then came the soldiers carrying the tattered souvenirs of prison life--a thermos, a small bag slung over the shoulder--or often nothing at all. As fellow officers welcomed them home, there were smiles and tears and an occasional vow that Pakistan would yet have its revenge on India. Asked about camp conditions, an army doctor replied brusquely: "Sometimes good, sometimes nasty." After a few days of briefing in Lahore, the soldiers will be given two months' leave, two months' pay and free transportation home.

Meanwhile, an even larger exchange of hostages is being carried out between Pakistan and the new nation of Bangladesh. Under the peace agreement signed in August, an estimated 200,000 Bengalis stranded in Pakistan and at least 80,000 non-Bengalis in Bangladesh are to be repatriated simultaneously with the 90,000 Pakistani P.O.W.s. They travel in daily chartered jet flights arranged by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Authorities hope that the three-way exchange will finish in four months.

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