Pakistan releases Indian lover after 6 years of detention
An Indian man jailed for using a fake passport to travel to Pakistan to meet a girl was released today.
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| Hamid Nehal Ansari went to Pakistan illegally to meet a girl he met on Facebook. Photo: Twitter. |
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry announced that Hamid Nehal Ansari will return to India through a border crossing this afternoon, after six years in prison in Pakistan, according toAFP.
Ansari, who entered Pakistan illegally from Afghanistan in 2012, was convicted of espionage and forgery in 2015. Ansari's lawyer, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, said his client told a Pakistani court that he was there to meet a woman he met on Facebook, but police were waiting for him at the woman's house and arrested him on the spot.
"Ansari was released from prison this morning and is in Lahore awaiting land exit to India," Anwar said.
Indian authorities confirmed Ansari's release.
"The end of the six-year detention of an Indian citizen has special significance for the family of the detainee," said a statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
Relations between the two countries have been tense since Pakistan split from India in 1947. The two countries have fought three wars and frequently clash on their border. They regularly arrest each other's citizens and accuse them of espionage.