Zardari frees Indian prisoner of 27 years
TNN & Agencies | Mar 28, 2011, 01.26am IST
ISLAMABAD/AMRITSAR: In a gesture that complements Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cricket diplomacy, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari signed the release document of Indian convict Gopal Das, arrested on charges of spying and languishing in Kot Lakhpat prison for 27 years.
President Zardari's spokesman Farhatullah Babar on Sunday said Das's jail term was remitted on humanitarian grounds on the advice of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. He said President Zardari signed the remission document after it was decided that Gilani will visit Mohali for the World Cup semifinal.
"It's a goodwill gesture from Pakistan government before the India-Pakistan match," said Das's elder brother, Anand Veer. Veer had filed a case in the Supreme Court pleading for his brother's release after the completion of his jail term. TOI had first reported Gopal's incarceration in Pakistan jail in May 2009, with Pakistan's former federal minister of human rights, Ansar Burney, making an intervention for his release.
Babar said Indian newspapers had reported that the Indian Supreme Court had observed, "We cannot give any direction to Pakistani authorities... However, that does not prevent us from making a request to the Pakistani authorities to consider the appeal of the petitioner for releasing him on humanitarian grounds." Das's cousin Kewal Krishan said he was arrested near the international border in J&K in 1984. He was sentenced for life in 1987 and was set for release by this year's end.
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