Islamabad: After spending six years in detention, Indian citizen Hamid Nehal Ansari who had illegally entered Pakistan, would be sent back to India on Tuesday via the Wagah border, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal said.
Ansari would be sent back between 1300 hrs and 1500 hrs, Dawn quoted Mr Faisal as saying.
Qazi Anwar-- Ansari's lawyer-- also confirmed the release of his client. Amid tight security Ansari left from Mardan jail for Lahore.
"I talked to [the] superintendent of Mardan jail and he informed me that Ansari was released at 7:25 am from the jail and shifted to Lahore in high security," Anwar told DawnNewsTV, adding that his client would be handed over to Indian officials at Wagah border around 3pm.
Ansari's family would be reaching the border to receive him, his lawyer said. On Monday, The Foreign Office spokesperson had announced Ansari's repatriation. The Indian national completed his three-year sentence for espionage and other crimes on Saturday.
Ansari was taken into custody by the police and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials in Kohat in November 2012 and was later court-martialled by a military tribunal. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in jail in December 2015. He was lodged in the Peshawar central jail.
The Peshawar High Court last week directed the interior ministry to ensure his deportation within a month of the completion of his sentence.Ansari's family claimed he entered Pakistan through Afghanistan for meeting a girl he had befriended online.
He had initially gone missing from Kohat in 2012. Three years later, the defence ministry ? in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by his mother ? acknowledged that he was in custody and was being court-martialled.(UNI)