International: Just a Stone’s Throw

All week long, anti-Communist North Korean and Chinese prisoners who had refused repatriation were herded into the muddy-red, hilltop compounds of “Indian Village” in Korea’s neutral zone. As each new batch arrived, Communist officers and “newsmen” crowded in close to the fences to listen while neutral Indian army guards called the roll. Each time they caught a name, the Red observers glared ominously and scribbled it down in note pads with exaggerated gestures.

The incoming prisoners reacted to this clear attempt at intimidation with a mixture of fear and defiance. Many of them refused to answer the roll, tore off their Manila name tags and kept their fists tightly clenched to forestall fingerprinting. Gradually they grew more bellicose. Compounds bristled with South Korean and Chinese Nationalist flags. Barrages of stones and curses descended on glum-faced Communist observers.

Faced with repeated near-riots, Major General Shankar Pandurang Patil Thorat, commander of the 5,000-man Indian guard force, hastily cabled New Delhi for reinforcements. He ordered the Communists to stay at least 100 yards away from the barbed wire. “Just a little more than a stone’s throw,” smiled an officer.

This week, with only a fraction of the 23,000 non-repatriates still to arrive, the tumult in Indian Village began to subside. Sandhurst-trained General Thorat and his troops—the pick of India’s professional army—showed impressive efficiency and tact in handling the physical transfer of the prisoners. There was considerable doubt, however, that the Indians would prove equally competent to handle the skulduggery sure to take place when the Communists get their chance to “explain” to each prisoner why he should change his mind and accept repatriation. And they were not prepared for a possible mass breakout attempt by the thousands who plainly feared the arrival of the Red “explainers.” “If one or two P.W.s try to escape, we will shoot them,” explained one Indian officer. “If there is a mass breakout attempt, we will do the best we can to stop it, but we do not want to quell it by mass killings.”