Pleas for remission: PHC seeks jail warrant record of convicted Indian prisoner

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed superintendent of Central Prison Mardan to submit jail warrant for an Indian convicted prisoner, who is seeking remission in his prison term.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan issued direction to prison authorities. They were directed to submit the jail warrant for the prisoner within three days. January 31 was fixed as the date for the next hearing.

Hamid Nihal Ansari, an Indian convicted prisoner, has filed a writ petition through his lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar. A noted human rights activist, Rukhshanda Naz, also appears in the case for the Indian convicted prisoner.

The convict is seeking an appropriate order of the court to issue direction to the Prison’s Department of the province and prison authorities to allow and give remissions to the Indian prisoner as granted to other prisoners in the province.

According to the prison record, his imprisonment of three years is being counted from December 15, 2015, the day of his conviction.

He was not given remission as the prison authorities state that on his jail warrant the word “anti-state activities” is written in the column of charges.

However, the petitioner stated in his petition that no evidence was produced against him about his involvement in anti-state activities.

“I had not come to Pakistan for commission of anti-state activities but to meet a female with whom friendship was developed on Facebook,” he claimed, adding he was neither an Indian agent nor had any connection with any group working against Pakistan.

The petitioner has prayed to the court to direct the Ministry of Defence to amend the jail warrant and replace the word ‘’anti-state activities’ with illegal activities and issue directions to the jail authorities to allow the due remission to him from December 15, 2015 and work out his date of release after allowing remission.

In the grounds to the writ petition, it was stated that the story which was established during the trial before the military court was that the petitioner had developed contact with a girl of Kohat on Facebook and she invited him to Kohat in 2012.

The petitioner claimed that he came to Pakistan on invitation of the girl from Kohat who was residing at Kohat Development Authority (KDA). The girl parents informed police, which, in turn, apprised the security agencies and he was then arrested on November 14, 2012 from Palwasha Hotel in Kohat.

However, it was claimed that the petitioner was then tried by military court, but no evidence was produced against him to establish his involvement in “anti-state activities’.

It said that he had not come to Pakistan for commission of anti-state activities, but to meet a girl with whom he had developed friendship on Facebook.

“The petitioner had committed a mistake in crossing the border without valid travel documents with fake I.D Card provided by persons who were his host in Karak. After announcement of three years rigorous imprisonment, he has the right to be treated in accordance with Prisons Rules in the matter of remission,” it was submitted before the court as the grounds to the petition.

It was claimed that the word anti-state activities on the jail warrant of the petitioner was not based on evidence and hence unjustified.

The ministries of defence and foreign affairs, in their joint comments, had stated that the petitioner was involved in espionage/anti-state activities and he was subject to the Pakistan Army Act. Therefore, the jurisdiction of high court was ousted in this case.

On the other hand, the rights activist, Rukhshanda Naz, who is pursuing the case in high court, told The News that mother of Nihal Ansari had also sent a mercy petition to the Chief of Army Staff, requesting the release of her son as first he had completed his jail term and second he was innocent and committed a mistake to cross the border without documents. The mother requested the COAS to release her son on humanitarian basis now.