Indian national Hamid Ansari crossed the Attari-Wagah border to reach India (Express Photo by Jatin Desai)Indian national Hamid Ansari, who was jailed in Pakistan for allegedly entering the country illegally, was repatriated to India at the Wagah border Tuesday. Ansari was greeted by his parents and brother who awaited his return.
Mumbai based Ansari, 33, was detained by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies in 2012 after he crossed over to Pakistan from Afghanistan where he had reportedly gone to meet a woman he had befriended online. In 2015, a Pakistani military court sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment for possessing a fake identity card. He was lodged in the Peshawar Central Jail on December 15 that year. His jail term ended on December 16
While in jail, the Pakistan government did not allow consular access to Ansari despite the Indian government reminding them 96 times through notes verbale.
NEW FACTOID: Pakistan government did not allow consular access to Ansari in the last six years, despite Indian govt reminding them 96 times through notes verbale. BUT, Pakistan facilitated one phone call during this period between Ansari and his mother last year. @IndianExpress https://t.co/FAw8ujp7uP
— Shubhajit Roy (@ShubhajitRoy) December 18, 2018
The move to hand him over to India, close on the heels of the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, is being seen as an effort by both sides to separate humanitarian gestures from the tension that has engulfed the bilateral ties.
