New Delhi, Nov 3 : Despite India making 52 requests for consular access to Hamid Nehal Ansari, an Indian national arrested in Pakistan, Islamabad has till now not responded on the matter, a senior official said here on Friday.
"We have sought consular access to Hamid Nehal Ansari 52 times," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said while addressing his weekly media briefing "So far, we have not been granted access. These requests have been made formally and through demarches," he said Ansari, languishing in a Peshawar jail on espionage charges, filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday urging that he should not be treated as a spy.
Ansari was arrested and charged with spying when he sneaked into Pakistan from Afghanistan without travel documents in 2012, reportedly to meet a woman he had befriended on social media.
In the petition, filed in the high court on his behalf by lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar, Ansari sought remission of his sentence.
A military court had tried him and sentenced him to three years' rigorous imprisonment that started December 15, 2015, and will end on December 14, 2018.
Demanding that Pakistan should be release Ansari, Kumar in Friday's briefing said: "We have also demanded that the government of Pakistan should ensure his safety and security. We still await the response of the Pakistan government on our demarches."
