Indian mother urges president to remit jail sentence of her son
lahore — The mother of an Indian engineer, who was sentenced after he sneaked into Pakistan from Afghanistan to meet a girl he had befriended on the internet, has appealed to President Mamnoon Hussain to remit the remaining period of her son’s prison term.
In a letter to Hussain, the mother of Hamid Ansari said: “Mohtaram Sadar — your government has shown clemency to foreign nationals who have commit- ted far graver offences than Hamid Ansari.
She said the period of Ansari’s detention (three years) before conviction may be counted as sentence served.
The Indian national was tried in a military court and was awarded three years’ vigorous imprisonment that started from December 15, 2015 and will end on December 14 next year.
Ansari suffered injuries after he was attacked by inmates in the Peshawar Central prison last year.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Ansari, an assistant professor at an Indian management institute, became friendly with a girl belonging to Kohat (in Kyber Pakhtaunkhawa
your government has shown clemency to foreign nationals who have committed far graver offences than Hamid ansari. Mother of Hamid Ansari writes to Pakistan President
province of Pakistan) through Facebook. “When she feared the denial of her rights, he decided to come to her rescue. He could not get a Pakistan visa but was able to fly to Afghanistan and enter Pakistan, though without valid papers. He was arrested from a hotel in Kohat on November 14, 2012.
“Thus, for five years he has been in the custody of the Pakistani authorities. Charged with espionage and not with illegal entry into Pakistan, he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by a military court,” says known rights activist IA Rehman.
On the other hand, a Pakistani woman journalist who was allegedly kidnapped while pursuing the case of Ansari, has gone missing again two months after her return. Shahzadi had been recovered from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area.
Rahman says: “When she learnt that an Indian (Ansari) was in trouble for trying to help a Pakistani girl, she thought this was a case that could help her establish herself as a rights defender.
She persuaded Ansari’s mother to grant her authority to pursue the matter before the Peshawar High Court.
The 26-year-old local reporter of daily Nai Khaber and Metro News TV channel had gone missing on August 19, 2015, when some men allegedly kidnapped her while she was en route to her office from her home in Lahore.
On her return in this October she was not allowed to speak to anyone. Later, her family said she has gone missing again. — PTI