Pakistan

Nehal Ansari case: Pakistan confirms detention of missing Indian man

PHC disposes of the case after MoD reveals he faces trial in military court

Fawad Ali January 13, 2016

Nehal Ansari. PHOTO: NDTV

PESHAWAR: A divisional bench of the Peshawar High Court disposed of the case of Indian national Nehal Hamid Ansari, missing in Pakistan for over three years, after the government on Wednesday confirmed that he was currently in army custody and facing a trial in military courts.

Qazi Muhammad Anwar, counsel for Ansari’s mother Fauzia, had told the court that the Indian engineer had been visiting Afghanistan for job prospects back in November 2012.

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The then 27-year old had befriended a Kohat-based woman through social media and had crossed over into Pakistan. Ansari had been staying at a local hotel in Kohat when police, assisted by officials of the Intelligence Bureau, arrested him on November 12, 2012.

“The intelligence agencies arrested him from a hotel in Kohat and since then his family and friends have been unaware of his whereabouts,” Anwar argued, adding that as per a police inquiry report the Indian national was being held by intelligence agencies.

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After he went missing, Ansari’s mother had filed a complaint at the Versova police station in Andheri West, Mumbai. She had also contacted the Afghan consulate in their city.

The petitioner subsequently sent an application to the human rights cell of the Supreme Court in Islamabad, which forwarded the case to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in March 2014.

In April, the commission directed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs department to form a joint investigation team to trace Ansari. An FIR was subsequently lodged at the City police station in Karak district under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

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The case was heard for over 18 months before the government revealed that he was being held in the country.

The Deputy Attorney General Musarratullah presented a reply from the Ministry of Defence which stated that Ansari was being held by the army and would be tried by a military court. However, the official did not provide details what charges had been brought against Ansari. On hearing this, the court disposed of the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2016.

COMMENTS (8)

Rustam | 8 years ago | Reply @Raj-USA - You mean he came to promote indian business of chemicals for producing heroine. It seems that you are privy of his tour and in relationship of partnership with him.

Malatesh | 8 years ago | Reply If he has been arrested then the army should explain the charges on which they detained him.. From past three years family struggling to locate him, the army has denied his detention, the commission directed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs department to form a joint investigation team to trace Ansari. and the case was heard for over 18 months before the government revealed that he was being held in the country. No wonder why thousands of missing cases are being files every year in Pakistan..

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Raj - USA | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan's army has been holding him for three years now. If he was a spy or something like that, the army would have found it out much earlier. It may sound odd for an Indian to go to Afghanistan looking for a job. Ansari's visit to Afghanistan may be to look for opportunities in drug trade. The same may have taken him to Pakistan too.

Rahul | 8 years ago | Reply @Yasir @Faruk He was an engineer. As you all know India has several engineering mega projects going on in Afghanistan. So he was probably looking to get involved in those.

Faruk | 8 years ago | Reply Story does not match, went to look for a job in Afghanistan and ended up in Pakistan!

M Ali Khan | 8 years ago | Reply What kind of fool befriends someone on social media, and then crosses the border (probably illegally and without visa) to visit them only to get trapped in such a quagmire?

Aj | 8 years ago | Reply if i had a lover in dehli and i had crossed over , my bones would have been vanished by now

Yasir | 8 years ago | Reply Dirty tactics of Indian state thwarted. Btw who goes to Afghanistan to search for a job. What an excuse!, they should employ better Bollywood writers.

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