KARACHI: Humran Rights activist Ansar Burney has dispatched letters to Indian prime minister, foreign and home ministers, requesting them to release and send back a Pakistani national Irfan.
According to a statement issued here at Ansar Burney Trust International, Irfan had gone missing following Samjhouta Express blast in 2007 and now found in an Indian Ambala jail after 9 years.
Burney says 23-year-old Irfan had traveled to Delhi in February 2007 to make purchases for his computer training center in Pakistan. Unfortunately, Mohammad Irfan took the ill-fated Samjhauta Express train which became target of a deadly bomb blast and fire.
He was declared missing, as no one heard of or saw Irfan after that day, nor did his family's DNA match any of the victims.
After nine years, his family was told of a prisoner in Punjab's jail, sentenced to four years under the Passport Act. He has been languishing in jail since then and has now reportedly become mentally ill.
Ansar Burney further said that Mohammed Irfan was travelling from Delhi to Attari on Samjhouta Express with a ticket bearing the number 391734. Irfan held a Pakistani passport number KE 685195.
“He was injured in the blast and admitted to a hospital in Panipat. Later, he was arrested on foreigners act and sentenced for 4 years for a crime he never committed,” Burney said.
Ansar Burney has thanked an Indian activist Ashok Randhawa for tracing Irfan’s presence in the Indian jail.
Ansar Burney requested with India to release Irfan and to send back him to Pakistan without further delay.