Indian national Hamid Nihal Ansari returns home after 6 years

Islamabad, Dec 18: Indian national Hamid Nihal Ansari crossed over into the country at the Attari-Wagah border here after being released from a Pakistani jail where he had spent the last six years. Ansari, 33, was met at the border by members of his family in an emotional reunion.

Pakistan had claimed that the 33-year-old Ansari was an "Indian spy" who illegally entered the country. Ansari was further accused of being involved in anti-state crimes and fabricating documents, and was subsequently jailed.

Ansari, a 33-year-old Mumbai resident, was lodged in the Peshawar Central Jail after being sentenced by a military court to three years' imprisonment for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card on December 15, 2015.

He was arrested in Pakistan in 2012 for illegally entering the country from Afghanistan, reportedly to meet a girl he had befriended online.

Besides Ansari's father Nehal, mother Fauzia and relatives, a number of India-Pakistan friendship activists, officials and politicians will be present at the border to welcome him.

Ansari had gone missing after he was taken into custody by Pakistani intelligence agencies and local police in Kohat in 2012 and finally in reply to a habeas corpus petition filed by his mother, Fauzia Ansari, the high court was informed that he was in custody of the Pakistan Army and was being tried by a military court.