PHC disposes of writ petition

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has disposed of writ petition of an Indian prisoner after the Ministry of Interior assured the court that he would be deported to India after completion of his prison term on December 15.

However, a two-member bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim dismissed the plea of the Indian prisoner, Hamid Nihal Ansari, seeking remissions in his prison term as awarded to other prisoners in the country.

Deputy attorney general, representing the Ministry of Interior, submitted a written statement of the ministry. It was claimed that under the exchange of prisoners’ agreement between Pakistan and India, the Indian prisoner would be handed over to Indian authorities through the Wagah border within 24 hours after completion of his prison term.

During the hearing into the case, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the Indian prisoner was not convicted for any terrorist activity and thus entitled to remissions. He said if the Indian prisoner was granted remissions, his prison term is complete and he can be deported to India.

The Indian national, Hamid Nehal Ansari, is languishing in the Central Prison Mardan, where he has been serving the sentence of three-year imprisonment awarded to him by a military court in December 2015 on espionage charges and involvement in anti-state activities.

In his written reply to the high court, Mardan Central Prison superintendent stated that ever since Hamid Nihal Ansari arrived at the jail on August 8, 2017, he has been kept in a solitary confinement cell, segregated from other prisoners in the jail owing to the nature of his crime.