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Rajathan High Court asks Union Govt. to release Pakistani journalist

Special Correspondent

Court also seeks explanation on repatriation of other foreigners

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court on Thursday asked the Union Government to release Pakistani journalist Sajid Bashir from Jaipur Central Jail and repatriate him back to his country by November 21. If the process needed any permission from the Pakistan authorities, the Centre could find out and inform the Court of the possible date he could be sent back, it said.

Acting on a petition from People's Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan, on Mr.Bashir's incarceration in Indian jails after completion of his sentence for crossing over to the Indian side at the Nachna border in Jaisalmer district in 1991, the Division Bench of Justice V.K.Bali and Justice R.S.Chauhan also sought an explanation from the State and Central Governments as to what they proposed to do for repatriation of other foreign nationals who had completed their jail terms.

Following a direction from the Court on September 30, the State Government provided the details of other foreign nationals in Rajasthan jails who have completed their sentence.

The list has 12 Pakistani nationals, four Bangladeshis and one national each from the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Nepal and Britain. The Court held "bureaucratic negligence'' responsible for the "serious violation'' of individual freedom of these persons.

If everything goes well, Sajid Bashir of Bahawal Nagar in Pakistan will return home after his 15 years in jail in India. When he was arrested and convicted for violation of the Official Secrets Act, he was 22 years old. Now he is 37. Mr. Bashir completed his sentence in 2003.

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