Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani will join his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Mohali on Wednesday to watch the India-Pakistan semifinal match of the ICC World Cup.
In a weekend of overtures from both sides of the border, Pakistan on Sunday also decided to remit the jail term of an Indian who has been languishing in a prison here for 27 years.
While the possibility of Mr. Gilani accepting Dr. Singh's invitation to him and President Asif Ali Zardari to Mohali had been spoken about since Friday evening when the Indian invite came, a final decision was taken in the early hours of Sunday at a meeting in the Presidency.
On Friday, the presidential spokesman had said that a final decision would be taken in consultation with the Prime Minister after he returned from his visit to Uzbekistan.
The decision to remit the jail term of Gopal Dass was also taken at this late-night meeting after Mr. Gilani forwarded the government's recommendation to this effect to Mr. Zardari.
Court's appeal
According to the official statement, Dass was pardoned “to honour” the Indian Supreme Court's appeal to Pakistan earlier this month to consider granting remission to him on humanitarian grounds.
A two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court made this appeal while disposing of a writ petition filed in 2008 by Dass through his brother.
Pakistani records show that Dass was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1987 and was due to be released by the end of this year. He was arrested in July 1984 after apparently crossing the Indo-Pakistan border by mistake. The Government of India had told the court that Dass was to complete his 25-year sentence on June 26 this year.
The pardon — coming as it does hours after India decided to allow people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to enter at multiple points and stay in J&K for a maximum period of six months — is being seen as a bid to reciprocate this unilateral gesture made by India. Both decisions seek to create a positive mood on the eve of the Home Secretary-level talks beginning in New Delhi on Monday as part of the decision to resume the ‘full spectrum dialogue.'
Non-committal
While a section of the Pakistani media suggested that the two Prime Ministers would hold a formal meeting after the cricket match and indicated the possibility of Mr. Gilani spending two days in India, the Foreign Office remained non-committal, stating that the “details are being worked out.”
