A delegation of students and teachers will visit the Indian High Commission on Thursday to submit a resolution demanding the immediate release of a Pakistani professor detained in an Indian jail.
The delegation will include members of the Pakistan Society for Microbiology (PSM), Karachi University Teachers’ Society (KUTS), Unikarians (University of Karachi (KU)-Alumni) and the core-committee of the KU Department of Microbiology.
They want the release of 85-year-old former teacher of KU Professor Dr Muhammad Khalil Chishti, who has been languishing in the Indian jail since 1992.
Separately, hundreds of students and teachers participated in a walk on Tuesday, jointly organised by the PSM, KUTS, Unikarians, and KU-Alumni to press for Chishti’s release.
The walk was led by KU Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi along with the professor’s daughter, Dr Tariqa Chishti.
The walk started from the KU’s Department of Microbiology and ended at the Arts Lobby of the university.
The participants chalked out a unanimous resolution, entailing signatures of hundreds of people, a copy of which would be submitted to the Indian High Commission for the consideration of the Indian authorities.
During the walk, Tariqa Chishti appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to speak to his Indian counterpart and play his role for the immediate release of her father.
“Dr Chishti was my teacher at the department and it is annoying to know that a person like him is in the custody for a crime which he never committed,” Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi told Pakistan Today.
“Dr Chishti frequently visited India as his mother was an Indian citizen where he is also heir to a family property in the Ajmer district of the Rajasthan state of India,” she added.
“Dr Chishti was very fond of hunting animals and usually went on hunting trips during his stay in India, where he always stayed on the second floor of his four-storey building in Ajmer.”
Kazmi also said that she often heard from his family about some dispute prevailing over the property among the family in Ajmer.
“When one day while the family members were arguing over such a dispute, all of sudden a child, who was playing with a (loaded) gun on the fourth floor, dropped it and it went off killing one of the family members.”
After the firing, the local police arrested a few family members including Chishti for investigation. Later, all of them were released save Chishti.
“However, Dr Chishti was not even present at the crime scene when this incident occurred as he was resting in his room on the second floor. But, the police chose not to consider this point,” Kazmi claimed.
She said that not a single person at the university had any information about this. “But after hearing about the tragedy, the university set up a committee to put pressure on the Indian authorities to secure the release of Dr Chishti.”
Tariqa Chishti told Pakistan Today that her mother and sister were due to meet Dr Chishti in Indian jail on Tuesday. “During the last meeting with his family, he [Chishti] was happy when he was informed that a walk for his release would be organised at the KU.”
The participants of the walk, expressing their deep concern and anguish over the prolonged detention of Chishti in the Indian jail, said, “It is our moral responsibility to raise voice for the release of our teacher. Dr Chishti has spent most of his life in jail and should now be released on humanitarian grounds,” they demanded.
The KU is also planning to appeal to human rights organisations in the country and overseas to use their good offices to secure the release of Chishti. Barrister Habib-ur-Rehamn is also preparing paper work to file a petition.
