Pak Agencies Tortured Me: Hamid Ansari Tells Sushma Swaraj

Hamid Ansari was released from a Pakistani jail after six years. He returned to India on 18 December.

Hamid Ansari and his mother Fauzia met Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday, 19 December.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Hamid Ansari and his mother Fauzia met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday, 19 December, a day after he returned to India following his release from a Pakistani jail.

Ansari’s mother thanked Swaraj and said, “Mera bharat mahan, meri madam mahaan, meri madam ne hi sab kia hai (My India is great, so is my madam (Swaraj). Everything has been done by her),” reported news agency ANI.

Ansari, who was jailed in Pakistan for six years, returned to India on Tuesday, 18 December. According to sources, Ansari was heard telling Swaraj that he had been ‘physically tortured’ by the Pakistani Intelligence agencies, The Indian Express reported.

Pak Agencies Tortured Me: Ansari

After meeting Sushma Swaraj, Ansari revealed to her that when he was held captive by the Pakistani intelligence agencies, he had been physically tortured and that his left eye had been damaged, The Indian Express, citing sources, said.

Ansari also claimed to have been treated by doctors in Pakistan and that he had been kept in solitary confinement at first, when he was arrested by Pakistan’s security forces.

Ansari was also heard telling Swaraj that he regretted his decision to leave his aged parents at all, and was now looking to resume normal life – find a job, get married, sources told The Indian Express.

In November 2012, the then 27-year-old Hamid had left his home for Kohat in Pakistan. He had been detained by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies for “illegally” entering the country from Afghanistan, reportedly to meet a girl he had befriended online.

With a degree in engineering and an MBA, Hamid was reportedly working as a management teacher for the education of Afghan students when he was taken away by Pakistani authorities in 2012, his mother Fauzia had said in a Facebook post.

Pakistan had claimed that Ansari was an “Indian spy who had illegally entered Pakistan, and was involved in anti-State crimes and forging documents.” In 2015, Hamid was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by a military court for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card.

Hamid’s jail term ended on Saturday, 15 December, but he was released on Tuesday after his legal documents were finalised.

(With inputs from ANI)