Pakistan court orders release of Indian national Hamid Nehal Ansari

Pakistan court on Thursday ordered the release of an Indian citizen Hamid Nehal Ansari who went missing in the country in 2012.

Ansari who was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in 2016 by a military court in Pakistan on charges of espionage, has already spent six years in the Pak prison.

His term in the jail is due to end on December 13, however, the Pakistan court said that the complete process for the release of Ansari will take a month.

Ansari had filed a plea for remissions in his sentence which was rejected by Pakistan in 2017.

A remission or a shortening of a sentence is usually given to prisoners in lieu of good behaviour. 

The jail authorities had rejected his plea claiming that the remission rules do not apply to him and he was charged and convicted for anti-state activities.

Ansari's lawyer, Qazi Mohammad Anwar had claimed Ansari should be granted remission since he was not involved in the anti-state activity.

Ansari initially went missing in Pakistan in 2012 after he crossed over from Afghanistan.

Ansari had come to Pakistan because of a love affair over the Internet.

The girl's family complained to authorities that he was travelling illegally, leading to his arrest in 2012. However, his arrest was not shown officially until 2016, when the authorities told the courts that he had been tried for espionage at a military court.