The Hindu : National : India repatriates 25 Pakistan nationals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2004

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India repatriates 25 Pakistan nationals

By Our Staff Correspondent

Pakistani prisoners wave to mediapersons at the Wagah border before crossing over to their country on Tuesday. — PTI

CHANDIGARH, NOV. 9. In yet another goodwill gesture, the Indian Government today repatriated 25 Pakistan nationals who had been languishing in various jails for over a decade.

The Pakistan nationals, including six persons nabbed in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990 for terrorist activities, had been arrested for separate offences.

They returned through the only land route at the Attari-Wagah check post in Amritsar district this afternoon. An official from the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, Mukhtiar Hussain, reached Amritsar with the emergency travel documents on the basis of which the prisoners were handed over by the Border Security Force to the Pakistan Rangers. Mr. Hussain described the gesture as "an advance gift of Id" from India to Pakistan.

BSF officials at Wagah, told The Hindu over the phone that most of the 25 Pakistan nationals had spent terms in jails in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi. Except for the 65-year-old Manzoor Ahmed, who was arrested in 1985, the rest had been held since 1990.

Before crossing the zero line at Wagah, Mr. Ahmed said he was arrested without valid travel documents. He had crossed over to attend a marriage function. As no strict vigil was then in place along the international border, it was quite convenient to cross into the other country's territory.

Muneer Khan said he was arrested in 1990 on charges of smuggling. He admitted that he used to smuggle narcotics and cloth in India and liquor into Pakistan.

Rana Ifthikar Hider was held in the Tihar jail in Delhi for about 12 years. "I don't have hesitation to admit having enjoyed proximity with the intelligence officials of India and Pakistan. I was arrested due to some misunderstanding between me and the Indian intelligence agents," he told reporters.

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