A mercy petition was forwarded to the Rajasthan governor on Monday in a bid to expedite the release of a 78-year-old Pakistani prisoner, Dr Saiyyad Mohammad Khaleel Chishty, who is languishing in Ajmer’s prison hospital, according to The Times of India.
The decision came a day after Indian Supreme Court Judge Markandeya Katju wrote a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him for assistance in releasing the ailing Chishti.
The petition was cleared on “humanitarian grounds” and was forwarded for the approval of Rajasthan governor Shivraj Patil. Chishti is in India and has not been allowed to return since 1992.
In an appeal written to the prime minister and president of Pakistan seeking their indulgence for the release of her father, Dr Chishty’s daughter Shoa Jawaid wrote, “My father is currently in a very precarious condition as necessary medical treatment is not available to him.” Over a month has passed since the appeal was delivered but a response is yet to take form.
Although human rights activists both in Pakistan and India are trying to get his sentence pardoned, not a single right wing political party has come forward in Chishty’s support.
Dr Chishty acquired BSc Honors and MSc in Microbiology from the Karachi University in 1959, as well as a PhD from Edinburgh University in Scotland.
He also has additional degrees in M I Biology as well as FRSH from London University.
He has also been a professor in universities of Karachi, Nigeria, King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah and Tebrez in Iran. (with additional reporting by Ali Usman in Lahore)
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2011.
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