Indian spy repatriated after six-year imprisonment in Pakistan

Hamid Ansari had claimed he came to see a woman in northern Pakistan he befriended on Facebook

LAHORE: Hamid Nehal Ansari, an Indian who illegally crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan in 2012 and was convicted for spying and forging documents in 2015 walked into India on Tuesday, days after conclusion of his punishment as his mother thanked Pakistan government for the ‘goodwill gesture’.

Ansari, who was held in Peshawar jail for six years, had filed a petition with the Peshawar High Court in Nov 2017 requesting that he must not be treated as a spy as he was not involved in anti-state activities.

He had told court officials that he came to see a woman in northern Pakistan he befriended on Facebook, his lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar said. But police were waiting for him at the woman’s house and arrested him on the spot, he added.

Ansari returned through the Wagah border crossing between Lahore and northern India’s Amritsar city on Tuesday afternoon. An AFP photojournalist at the border crossing said Ansari was received by his waiting family members on the Indian side of the frontier.

Local media showed Ansari hugging his mother and bowing to touch his head to the ground after crossing over to India. Ansari and his family were escorted away by local security officials before they could speak with the waiting journalists.

Speaking to Express News over telephone from India’s Attari area, Ansari’s mother Fauzia thanked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government for the goodwill gesture. She said the entire family was eagerly awaiting Ansari’s return for the last six years.

Fauzia said the family did not celebrate any occasion during these six years and even wedding of Ansari’s elder brother Khalid was postponed after the latter refused to tie the knot in his brother’s absence.

She thanked the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan for repatriating her son only three days after completing his sentence. Ansari’s mother also urged the Indian government to reciprocate the goodwill gesture and release all those Pakistanis who have completed their prison terms in India.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP.