New Delhi: Hamid Ansari and his mother Fauzia met Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on Wednesday, a day after the former’s release from a Pakistan jail. It was an emotional meeting as teary-eyed Ansari thanked Swaraj for his release.
Ansari, 33, a resident of Mumbai had entered Pakistan on November 12, 2012, to meet a woman whom he had befriended on social media. He was arrested in November 2012 and handed a three-year sentence in 2015 for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card.
He crossed over to the Indian side at Punjab’s Attari-Wagah border on Tuesday after spending six years in Peshawar’s central jail.
A video released by news agency ANI of the meeting between Ansari, Swaraj and Fauzia shows Fauzia saying “Mera Bharat mahaan, meri madam mahaan, sab madam ne hi kiya hai (My India is great, my madam is great. You did everything).
Swaraj is seen hugging Fauzia and comforting her. She then pats Ansari’s back as she welcomes them in her office.
Ansari had been lodged in Peshawar’s central jail after being sentenced by the military court. His jail term ended on December 15 and he was repatriated after the Peshawar high court gave the Pakistani government a month’s deadline to complete the process on Thursday.
“I feel really good coming back home. I am very emotional right now,” Ansari said earlier after reaching the national capital, according to ANI.
“For us, it is like Hamid has taken a new birth. We did not celebrate any festival since my son went missing, but this is the day of celebration,” his father said before receiving his son.
