Uri attack: Hope melts for Versova man in Peshawar jail

Hamid Ansari’s mother says they can’t do much beyond praying for easing of tension.

Growing tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad over the Uri terror strike seem to have inflicted collateral damage on a Mumbai family whose son is behind bars in Pakistan. The release of Versova resident Hamid Ansari will now get deferred, it fears.

Ansari’s family was hoping for some good news from across the border considering that he has already served his prison term of three-anda-half years. He was arrested in 2012 and convicted of espionage charges. He is currently lodged in the Peshawar Central Jail.

At this stage, the family members say, no one will listen to them if they approach anyone in Pakistan. “It’s like a mountain has crushed us. We’re praying that the tension between the two countries cools down as soon as possible,” said Ansari’s mother Fauzia.

The family said they didn’t celebrate Eid this time. “We will do it only after Hamid returns home,” Fauzia told Mirror.

The mother said they were optimistic after a meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj last month. “She assured us to do her best. But I don’t know what will happen now.” While India has sought consular access to Ansari, Pakistan is yet to grant it.

An engineer by profession, Ansari, then 27, left home on November 5, 2012, saying that he was headed for Afghanistan in search of a job. It later emerged that he had fallen in love on the internet with a woman from the Kohat region of western Pakistan.

Sources in Mumbai police said that Ansari was apparently convinced by a few friends and contacts in Pakistan that he could enter the country easily from Afghanistan. His digital footprints suggested that he wanted to prevent the marriage of his love with another man.

But Ansari’s journey was cut short by authorities on the Af-Pak border for want of proper travel documents and he was arrested on suspicion of being a spy. Later, a military court in Pakistan sentenced him to 42 months in jail.

Mom starts Twitter campaign

Fauzia, who works as a teacher, has not let the frustration bog down her. She has started a Twitter campaign to get justice for her son. Every Sunday, the mother said, she tweets over 200 messages hoping that #HelpHamid trends on the social networking site.

“I recently learnt that Twitter is a very powerful medium to get noticed. Therefore, I have taken my campaign to the social media platform. I hope the authorities take notice and get my son released at the earliest,” she said.

After their meeting with Sushma Swaraj, Fauzia and her husband Nehal, a retired banker who now practises law, had applied to the Pakistani embassy in Delhi for visa, but in vain. Fauzia said there have been reports that Ansari was attacked in jail on two occasions.

The mother said, “He has already served the sentence, so why isn’t he out by now? I can understand if a mother is helpless, but how can the government be so helpless?”

SEARCH FOR LOVE ENDS IN JAIL

♦ Ansari leaves home for Afghanistan in Nov 2012, saying he’s got a job there

♦ Turns out he was in love with a Pakistani girl and wanted to prevent her marriage with another man

♦ The engineer is caught on Af-Pak border for want of proper documents

♦ Is sentenced to 3.5 yrs in prison on espionage charges

♦ His parents meet foreign minister Sushma Swaraj in August 2016 to seek help

♦ After the meeting, India seeks consular access to Ansari

♦ Parents apply for Pakistani visa, but not granted