Cross-border love: After Hamid Nihal's release, India to free Pakistani national

A week after Indian national Hamid Nihal Ansari was released, India decides to release Pakistani national Imran Qureshi Warsi next week who was in an Indian jail for a decade. Warsi is likely to be released by December 24 and subsequently be repatriated on December 26.

As per reports, the Pakistani High Commission would not be able to facilitate his repatriation on the 25th owing to the birth anniversary of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and with the day being an official holiday in the country.

Warsi came to India in 2004 on a valid Indian visa and was arrested in 2008 in Bhopal for having a fake passport after his valid Indian visa expired on his Pakistani passport. He was in love with an Indian girl whom he married and has two children with. 

Warsi was in a Bhopal jail for 10 years and released in January 2018. He had to remain in jail beyond January of 2018 since he could not pay the fine instructed by the courts. Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi also did not extend support to him to arrange for the sum required for fine. 

Thanking India for his release, Warsi said, "I had come to India to meet my relatives. Then I fell in love with a girl and married her. But soon my visa expired. Complaints were filed against me and I was jailed for 10 years. I am looking forward to meeting my mother. I would like to thank everyone who helped me."

The move comes as a ray of hope for 11 Indian prisoners who have completed their sentence but are still languishing in Pak jails. Pakistani side claims to have 32 of such Pak civilian prisoners in Indian jails.

The development comes in the backdrop of the increased incidents of Indian diplomats being harassed in Islamabad. The Indian High Commission in Islamabad has flagged all such instances of breach of diplomatic norms and protocol to the notice of the Pakistani MOFA.