Mumbaiz: Indian national Hamid Nihal Ansari, who has been languishing in a Pakistani jail since 2012, has been released and is likely to be deported to India on Tuesday. Mr Ansari will return to India through the Wagah Border crossing in Punjab.
Mr Ansari was released from Peshawar jail on Monday and will be taken to the Wagah-Attari Border crossing on Tuesday where he will be handed to Indian authorities.
The 33-year-old hails from Mumbai and has been under Pakistan’s custody since 2012, when he was arrested for illegally entering the country through Afghan-istan. Mr Ansari reportedly had gone to Pakistan in order to meet a girl he had befriended on social media.
Excited with happiness Mr Ansari’s father Nehal Ansari said, “We are so happy and the moment we meet our son it’s going to be our Eid.”
The decision to release and deport Hamid Ansari comes days after New Delhi issued a note verbale to the Pakistan High Commission in India, asking it to make necessary arrangements for the ‘earliest’ release of the Indian prisoners who have either completed their sentence or have been identified as the Indian nationals lodged in Pakistani prisons.
