Homecoming: After 20 years, Dr Chishty finally crosses border
It was a historic day for Pakistan-India relations, and perhaps a symbol of hope for the hundreds of prisoners languishing on both sides of the border indefinitely – scenes of jubilation were witnessed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad and Dr Khalil Chisty’s home in Karachi as he finally crossed the border.
After twenty years of incarceration in Rajasthan’s Ajmer Jail, Dr Chishty arrived in Pakistan from India late Tuesday night. The 82-year-old virologist was brought back in a special plane sent by President Asif Ali Zardari.
While not completely free, Dr Chishty will remain in Pakistan until his November 1, 2012 hearing in the Indian Supreme Court. He was welcomed at the airport by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Port and Shipping Minister Babar Ghauri at 11:25pm, from where he was driven in a Mercedes car to the President House with official protocol. Local Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders and activists showered rose petals on him.
President Zardari had discussed Dr Chishty’s case with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to Ajmer.
Chishty was recently released from Ajmer Jail after being sentenced to a life imprisonment term in a murder case. The Indian SC granted bail on April 9 to the virologist and allowed him to visit Pakistan for a temporary stay on May 10.
“I am happy that I am going to my homeland to meet my family and friends. I would like to offer a thanksgiving prayer as soon as I reach the airport and then I will go to my home,” he told reporters at Jaipur railway station.
In Karachi, his family was seen waiting for his arrival, anxious and excited in a house decorated with lights in celebration. While talking to a private news channel, his daughter, Farah, said “It is a miracle. We have been waiting since morning for his return and now we will spend the whole night waiting for his arrival tomorrow. We have made his favourite food.” His grandchildren, several of whom he has never seen, appeared just as eager to meet their grandfather.
A special leave petition against Dr Chishty’s conviction is pending in the Indian Supreme Court while a clemency petition is pending before the Rajasthan governor.
The octogenarian was visiting his ailing mother in Ajmer in 1992 when he got embroiled into a family feud that led to the death of one of his relatives. He has been in Ajmer since, incarcerated at his ancestral home for eighteen years before being jailed following his conviction in January last year.
The teary-eyed Pakistani added that he would also go to Lahore to meet Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national facing a death sentence on charges of involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan. Sarabjit has been languishing in prison in Lahore for the last 22 years. Diplomatic efforts are on to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.
Dr Chishty completed his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1968 in Public Health Virology. “Inasmuch as we have posted the appeal for final disposal on 20th November, 2012, we permit him to visit his country, namely, Pakistan and return back to India positively by 1st November, 2012. As soon as he reaches his native country he has to surrender his passport with the Indian High Commission, Islamabad,” the Indian SC said in its verdict on the case.
Talking to media earlier on Tuesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said President Zardari played a pivotal role in the release of Dr Chishty during his recent visit to India. “President Zardari has been very kind to send his plane to New Delhi on the request of the Indian government to bring back Dr Chishty home,” he emphasised. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN KARACHI)
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2012.
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my understanding is it was a manslaughter so it's a lesser crime meaning he had no intention to kill but it happened by accident in a brawl.
@Davidl
Please stop dishing out incohorent comments.Are talking through your head? There are eyewitnesses of the crime he committed. That he is old, has been freed on bail that's fine.But to treat him as some kind of messiah is beyond belief.
I am talking about the compensation.. did you even see him with your naked eyes? I was in the airport the day he arrived,he was so much weak,he couldn't even walk nor couldn't even sit the in car..look what did they do with him in these 20 years.He looks like 120 years old.I don't personally give a damn about our and their Gov.I am talking about the compensation which should be atleast given her to his wife.I am done with this issue.
@ Davidl, I dont know why you are harping on the Indian government at this time, we dont have a shining record ourselves. This is a happy moment please celebrate it. It would be nice if we could start on common ground rather than voicing and counting our differences endlessly.
@Singh
For heaven's sake don't tell me that Indian GOV. is so nice with Pakistani convicts.Even his name was abused in your country courts.He was used to be called kaliq pakistani.Chishti was sentenced to life imprisonment for the death of a person in a brawl with him when he was visiting Ajmer in April 1992. He was granted bail by the apex court on April 9 which asked him to make a separate plea for permission to visit Pakistan. Your Government isn't that nice dude.He was in jail for 20 years,your GOV. has charged the innocent man for nothing.Your GOV. now in the end when his both feet are in grave released him and showed that you have sympathy for us Pakistanies.If your GOV. cannot compensate him then try give him his 20 years jawani back.
@anand singh: Supreme Court of India is not convinced that he is guilt hence they allowed the petition. There is no obligation on the SC to accept such cases. What happens if he is exonerated once the petition is heard in November. I think we should not put the cart before the donkey, lets see what the SC has to say... When people like retired SC justice Katju comment and say that he was implicated because he was a Pakistani, maybe we should think a bit before we judge.
I dont know if you know that Dr. Chishty was sitting at home when the mod attacked and one of the attacker got shot. and Dr. Chishty was not the one who did the shooting, the person who did has admitted to itin the media...
@mustafa: Pakistanis dont pay any tax if they did the country wont be the way it is
@ Davidl
Firstly, he spent the majority of time in his ancestral house and NOT behind bars.
Secondly, how are you so sure that he didn't do what he is charged for ?
What compensation does he need and for what ???
@Davidl: Read the news first He has been in Ajmer since, incarcerated at his ancestral home for eighteen years before being jailed following his conviction in January last year. He was on bail for 18 year & fighting case in court. How much Pakistan govt compensate to each convict? Try to use god gifted brain.
@Davidl: @Kini: @Khalq e Khuda: For the majority of the time Khalil Chisty was held under house arrest (in his paternal home) and not in a jail.
@Ajamal:
He did not spend 20 years in jail. he spent 18 years in his ancestral home in ajmer and only after the courts verdict he was sent to jail last year.
@jagjit sidhoo: Completely agree with your comment. Those who call him a "criminal" must know he is an eminent scientist in his own right. We should be mindful of the fact that we are all human and therefore fallible. We are all given to base passions at rare moments and it is in such a moment he committed a reprehensible act -murder of another human being. Although we do not tire of saying how Lady Justice is blind, in realty it is a cop-out because as fallible human beings we must make allowances for the same fallibility in our fellow human beings and not hand out sentences like blind robots. It is no one's case that there should be no accountability nor that the sentence he was handed was unjust. But, now that the price has been paid (Supreme Court of India will be the judge of that), we should show some grace in not hitting the man when he is down and cannot defend himself in ways more than one!
Why Dr Chisti could not travel on a commercial air line and who paid for the private plane I think it was the Pakistan tax payer!
Amazing in the times of austerity.
@anand singh :- He has served his half life 20 to 25 years in Indian jails for what he hasn't done.He was behind the bars for nothing.Your Government should compensate his whole family.20 years is something.
This article is not about Dr Chisti, it is about thousands of prisoners langushing in jails of both countries some even from 1971 war. I dont know if Dr Chisti committed murder or not (that can be discussed somewhere else) but all I am saying is that India showed a big heart and acted very responsibly by releasing this old man and now its our turn to reciprocate.
@Khalq e Khuda: I see a parallel between the PAN AM bomber's welcome in Libya and Dr Chisti. He made mistake but at the end of the day a beautiful life was lost due to his mistake. He is entitle to go home and move on with his life. But giving welcome is in bad taste out of respect to the victim and his family. You are celebrating a life of a convict and not the victim. It is a fine line in human decency and it is hard to comprehand. He is not hero he is just a Phd in a subject who killed someone and served his time period.
A PhD Virologist going to India to commit a murder???????
He has been a victim of system that allows criminals (sitting in Lok Sabha and many State assemblies) get away by hiring well connected lawyers (read cronies), and for the people like Dr Chisty to spend 20 years in jail for crime of others.
Zardari tries to improve ties between India and Pakistan with whatever little authority he has. This is just a humanitarian gesture. No need to read too much into it.
@ Davidl
Compensate him for what ?
He has gone so much old.. he can't even sit in the car with his own help.Indians should compensate this old man.They should compensate him for the years for which they kept him in the jail.He surely cant work anymore.
@Its (still) Econonmy Stupid:
He was convicted of manslaughter not murder; understand the difference! On the other hand he served Pakistan well by teaching thousands of students and being Pakistan's first virologist.
At least a good deed by Zardari+Malik. Although I'm not a PPP supporter at all, I like this gesture
now zardari should think about sarabjit singh well wishes for both brotherly countries people
I think the old man should be allowed to stay on in Pakistan. He has suffered enough.
As regards being recieved by a minister etc, its all playing for the gallery and we needn't read too much into it.
Did he not kill someone due to property dispute in Ajmeer?. Was he not convicted by the court for this? And if the above is true, why was a Presidential plane sent to receive him?
Another national hero welcomed by the President of Pakistan. Other national heroes include Hafeez Sayeed, Bin Laden (even if he was of arab origin), AQ Khan, and Musharraf for some
@Concern1: Much as i welcome his release, he is a old man who has served a 20yr jail term,sending the presidents plane to bring him back is really going overboard.He had committed a murder not won the Nobel peace prize.We must look in other areas for heroes, my hero in Pakistan is Abdul Sitar Edhi.
Why so much hospitality for this criminal in Pakistan?
Now Zardari is palying the political game for the next election
Reminds me of the way Gadhafi welcomed the homecoming of the mass killer convicted of the Lockbie bombing. This man is a convicted murderer. Can you imagine an Indian minister receiving a convicted killer and keeping his ministry?
Welcome home! We will work for Sarabjit's return too!
Zardari Sahib, at least, has doen a great job by bringning an old Pakistani citizens.
The Plane belongs to the People Of Pakistan by whose tax money it has been bought its not Zardaris personnal property
If I had two choices: 1) Be received by Rehman Malik 2) Go back to jail
I would go back to jail.
Only in Pakistan a convicted nurder is recieved by the top law and order official. Sorry I gotta go to puke.
Kudos for President Zardari.