Parents of Hamid Nehal Ansari, a 31-year-old Indian incarcerated in a Pakistan jail despite completing his prison term, are in Amritsar seeking an audience with Sartaj Aziz, advisor on foreign affairs to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Aziz is in town to attend the Heart of Asia Conference.
Fauzia Ansari and Nehal Ansari, who hail from Mumbai, have not left any stones unturned to reach out to Pakistan appealing for their son’s release. Hamid has been languishing in a Pakistani jail since 2012 and has not been released even after serving his three-year jail term.
On reaching Amritsar, the couple spoke to The Sunday Guardian. An inconsolable Fauzia Ansari, mother of Hamid Ansari, has been seeking help from all quarters and takes leave from her college where she is a professor only to go wherever she sees a window of hope. In Amritsar, sitting at Virsa Vihar where her friends have helped her with accommodation, the 57-year-old said: “We can only plead to Mr Sartaj Aziz for the release of my innocent son. Four and a half years are over and I have not heard his voice. He has completed his term but he is still being kept there. My plea is that he should be deported.”
A recent court order of 1 November 2016, has allowed visitation rights to Hamid Ansari, but his parents are yet to get a visa from Pakistan High Commission. Hamid’s father Nehal Ansari said: “Our request is to either deport him or give us visitation right or at least allow us to hear his voice. It will bring us peace. We appeal to the government and the military of Pakistan.”
Hamid was arrested by the Pakistan police in 2010 for possessing fake ID and illegally entering Pakistan through Afghanistan. He was charged and has served his term. He has neither been given consular access nor has been allowed to contact his family. According to reports, Hamid Nehal Ansari was also attacked in prison several times. The matter was taken up by the Ministry of External Affairs with Pakistan and the Indian mission had approached the court to summon the superintendent of the jail where he was kept.
The parents of Hamid Ansari fear for their son’s life and have been running from pillar to post to secure his release.