The Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) has welcomed the consistent efforts by the civil society of India to secure the release of a Pakistani prisoner, 78-year-old virologist Dr Khaleel Chishti.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and its general secretary Kavita Srivastava, supported by renowned film maker Mahesh Bhatt, veteran journalist and author Kuldip Nayar, former Indian Naval Chief Admiral L Ramdas, journalist and peace activist Jatin Desai of Focus on Global South, Mazher Hussain of COVA and other Indian peace activists, have intensified efforts to secure the release of Dr Chishti, who has been under trial for nearly 19 years before a sessions court in Ajmer, Rajasthan. The court finally pronounced sentence in January this year, convicting him to life imprisonment of 14 years.
In a statement issued here on Monday, PPC General Secretary BM Kutty said that the civil society of India, after appeals by Amna Chishti, daughter of Dr Chishti, has intensified its efforts.
On April 11, the Indian civil society activists had submitted an appeal to the Indian president to exercise her power to “grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishment”, as well as the power to “suspend, remit or commute the sentence” of people convicted of offenses in the name of humanity, mercy and reciprocity to release Dr Chishti.
Srivastava of the PUCL had visited Dr Chishti along with Anant Bhatnagar at the central jail in Ajmer on April 14.
On April 20, a PUCL delegation led by Dr Radha Kant Saxena, a national expert on jails, met Rajasthan Home Secretary PK Deb and presented to him a memo urging him to “request the chief minister of Rajasthan and his cabinet of ministers to advise the governor of Rajasthan to invoke his powers under Article 161 of the Constitution of India and see that Dr Chishti returns to his home in Pakistan alive and as soon as possible.
In their appeal to the Indian president, the civil society and human rights activists mentioned that Dr Chishti had gone to Ajmer in 1992 to look after his ailing mother. A family dispute involving his distant paternal relatives took an unseemly turn and he was arrested under IPC Section 302, 307/37, 302/34 and 324/34.