Pak ordeal over, now to better future: Ansari
MUMBAI: Hamid Ansari, 33, a software engineer who returned to his Versova home on Thursday after spending six years in Pakistan for illegally entering the country to help a woman he met on a social networking site, still can’t believe his ordeal is over.
As his mother fetches his documents, Ansari recounts the incident. “A few months before I left for Afghanistan on November 4, 2012, I met a woman from Pakistan on an instant messaging application in a chat room. We became good friends and exchanged numbers and over time fell in love,” he said.
In one of the chats in October 2012, woman told Ansari she was being forced to marry. “At that moment, I decided to rush to her help.”
As all his attempts to get a visa failed, Ansari decided to take the illegal route. He quit his job as a lecturer, as he wasn’t getting leave to go to Pakistan. He decided to enter Pakistan through Kabul, because “it was relatively easier to acquire a visa for Afghanistan”.
“Two of my friends on a social
I got arrested just 10 steps away from her house. I paid the price for thinking with my heart instead of brain. HAMID ANSARI, techie who was repatriated from Pakistan
networking site lived in Pakistan. They knew both her and me, and offered to help. The route from Afghanistan to a village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wasn’t easy. All through the journey, I was tense as I knew I was entering illegally. I travelled through villages and mountains to reach there,” said Ansari, adding, “But when I reached Pakistan, they told the authorities about it. I got arrested just 10 steps away from her house. I paid the price for thinking with my heart instead of brain.”
Ansari was arrested on November 14, 2012. “Travel without a visa and trusting wrong people were my mistakes. The ‘friends’ and the woman testified for him in court, proved he was only guilty of entering illegally.”
He was handed a three-year sentence in 2015 for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card. Ansari was repatriated on Thursday.
With the trauma behind him, Ansari now has plans for the future. “Just want to get in a better frame of mind, so I can start work.”