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India releases 28 Pak, Bangla prisoners ahead of Eid

thestringshredder

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AMRITSAR: Ahead of the Eid festival, India repatriated 28 prisoners, including 22 Pakistani and six Bangladeshi nationals, on Tuesday. The Pakistani nationals, brought here from different jails, were handed over to Pakistan Rangers at Attari border while the Bangladeshis were released from Amritsar central jail and were transferred to Tarn Taran police, which would make arrangements to send them to their homeland.

Wearing a white "kurta-pajama" and a skull cap, Saddiq Umar, in his 60s, appeared confused, despite becoming free and heading to his country Pakistan after nearly 20 years. "I was a fisherman and don't know how I was implicated in a narcotics case. But now, freedom is like a gift from the Indian government, though after 20 years," he told TOI, before leaving for Pakistan. A resident of Thatta district, Umar said his family was waiting for him desperately and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with them.

Similarly, a resident of Kasur in Pakistan, Mudassar Iqbal, looked all set to celebrate Eid as he stepped out of the jail. Clad in an immaculate white "kurta-pajama," Iqbal, who had illegally entered Indian territory from Ferozepur sector, said, "Hun mein purania gallan bhul ke navi zindagi shuru karni hi tae Eid vee hai is layi main bahut khush haan" (Now, I have to forget the past to begin a new life and it's Eid, so I am very happy).

Mudassar was sad for other Pakistani prisoners, who were still in jail. "All I can do is to offer prayers for them and plead with the Indian government to release them so that they could also join their families on the occasion of Eid."

Umar Bhai, another fisherman, who was released from Sabarmati central jail in Gujarat, said, "19 saal yahan guzaare hain ab waqt aa gaya hai ke apni sar zameen par paon rakhu (I have spent 19 years here in jail, now it is time to set foot on my mother land."

Bhai was awarded 15 years imprisonment in a drug peddling case.

Expressing gratitude to the Indian government, an official of the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi, Shabbir, said, "Indeed it is a matter of happiness for those who have been set free. It is a gift from the Indian government."

Link - India releases 28 Pak, Bangla prisoners ahead of Eid - The Times of India
 
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