Pak prisoner's family in India to plead for his release

Jaipur : The family of ailing Pakistani prisoner Dr Khalil Chishty has come to India all the way from Karachi to plead for his release. The 78-year old virologist, who is critically ill, is serving life sentence in the Ajmer Central Jail. His mercy plea has been given clearance by the Rajasthan Chief Minister, but he has still not been released.

Chishty was accused of killing a man during a brawl in Ajmer in April 1992. He had come to the city to offer prayers at the famous shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty. In January this year, he was awarded life imprisonment after an 18-year-long trial.

Dr Chishty's family is specially anxious about his failing health - a heart patient for over 30 years, he can't even walk unaided. They plead that he must be releases on "humanitarian grounds." But despite clearance from the Rajasthan Chief Minister, his release, they say, has got trapped in red tape.

"We have come from so far to meet him and I hope I can meet him in jail. I want to appeal to the Indian government that my husband is terribly ill and they must release him without any delay," says Mehrunissa Begum, Dr Chishty's wife. His daughter Soha Javed too hopes she would be able to "take my father back with me."

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Earlier this year, Dr Chisty moved the Rajasthan High Court against the lower court's verdict, but his bail application was turned down.

In June, Supreme Court Justice Markandeya Katju requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to release him. Acting on Katju's appeal, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot approved his mercy plea and sent it to Governor Shivraj Patil for final clearance. But Patil sent a questionnaire to the law department on various issues related to the case.

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Dr Chisty's family is keen to meet the Governor to convince him to clear his mercy petition. But for the moment, they are waiting for the government to permit them to at least meet Dr Chishty in the Ajmer jail.

Many human rights activists too are pressing for Dr Chisty's early release. Any further delay, they say, is a "complete denial of natural justice to him."