An elderly Mumbai-based couple’s effort to secure the release of their son lodged in a Pakistani prison despite completing his jail term hit a roadblock after they failed to meet Pakistani Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz on Sunday.
They have been camping in this holy city, where Mr. Aziz attended the Heart of Asia conference. Mr. Aziz left for Pakistan on Sunday evening.
Praying for justice
“We were keen to meet Sartaj Aziz. But the tight security in place did not allow us to have an audience with him. Now we are in the Golden Temple praying for justice to our son who is lodged in a Peshawar jail,” said Fauzia Ansari, the mother of 32-year-old Hamid Ansari.
Hamid, an IT engineer and an MBA degree holder, had gone to Kabul on November 4, 2012, from where he went to Pakistan, allegedly to meet a Pakistani girl he had been in touch with over e-mail. There are no reports of his whereabouts after November 10.
The Pakistan Deputy Attorney-General had informed the court that Hamid was in the custody of the Pakistani Army and had been awarded three years’ imprisonment. His term ended a year ago, his parents said.
Petition dismissed
Fauzia Ansari said she had earlier sent a letter to Mr. Aziz seeking an appointment to request for Hamid’s release but did not get any reply from his office.
She had filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court seeking release of her son after the completion of his jail term.
The petition was dismissed as the court had observed that the Army would decide on his release since he was in its custody. — PTI
