Zardari remits term of Indian convict on humanitarian grounds

Rezaul H Laskar Islamabad, Mar 27 (PTI) In a diplomatic gesture ahead
of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's visit to India to watch
the Indo-Pak World Cup semi final, President Asif Ali Zardari
on Sunday waived off the remaining sentence of an Indian
prisoner who has spent 27 years in a Pakistani jail.
According to official records, Indian convict Gopal
Das was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 and was set to
be released by the end of this year from a Lahore jail.
Zardari remitted the remaining prison term of Das "on
humanitarian grounds", presidential spokesman Farhatullah
Babar said.
The remission was granted on the advice of the Prime
Minister to "honour an appeal of the Supreme Court of India to
the government of Pakistan", he said.
A two-judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court had
appealed to the Pakistan government earlier this month to
remit the remaining period of Das' sentence and release him on
humanitarian grounds.
The court made the appeal in response to a petition
filed by Das' brother Anand Vir.
Babar noted that Indian media reports had mentioned
that the Indian judges had resorted to the "unusual step" of
appealing to Pakistan to consider granting remission to Das on
humanitarian grounds.
He also pointed out that Justice Markandey Katju had,
in his judgement, quoted a couplet by Faiz: "Qafas uddas hai
yaaro sabaa se kuch to kaho, Kaheen to beher-e-khuda aaj
zikr-e-yaar chale".
Das' family has said that he was arrested by Pakistani
security forces when he mistakenly crossed the border in July
1984.
Reacting to Zardari's decision, Das' brother said: "We
are very happy that my brother is coming back to become part
of our family again. I am speechless because of the happiness.
Over the years, we have been receiving messages through which
we got to know about his well-being".
Acting on the advice of the Prime Minister,
the President on Sunday remitted Das' remaining term, Babar
said.
"The President signed the remission advice in the wee
hours of Sunday, soon after the invitation of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh was accepted and it was decided that Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will proceed to Mohali to witness
the semi-final cricket match between the teams of the two
countries," Babar said.
The Home and Interior Secretaries of India and
Pakistan will meet in New Delhi on Monday for the first in a
series of meetings under the umbrella of the "full spectrum of
dialogue" between the two countries.
Monday's meeting will mark the formal resumption of
the bilateral peace process that was stalled in the wake of
the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were blamed on the Pakistan-
based Lashkar-e-Taiba.