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Hamid Ansari Crosses Border To Reach India After Release From Pakistan Jail

The 33-year-old Mumbai resident was lodged in the Peshawar Central Jail after being sentenced by a military court to three years’ imprisonment for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card.
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Hamid Ansari, the Indian prisoner released from Pakistan’s Peshawar Central Jail crossed the Attari-Wagah border on Tuesday to reach India.

Ansari was arrested in Pakistan in 2012 for illegally entering the country from Afghanistan, reportedly to meet a girl he had befriended online.

The 33-year-old Mumbai resident was lodged in the Peshawar Central Jail after being sentenced by a military court to three years’ imprisonment for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card on December 15, 2015.

His jail term ended on December 15 but he was not able to leave for India as his legal documents were not ready.

On Thursday, the Peshawar High Court granted the Pakistan government a month deadline to complete his repatriation process.

Ansari’s father Nihal, who is a retired bank officer, expressed happiness over his son’s release and thanked Indian and Pakistan governments for their efforts towards it.

Talking to PTI, he said, “We are thankful to the government of India and Pakistan as well for every effort... Our family is waiting for Hamid.”

(With inputs from PTI)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.