Ajmer:
In a remarkable effort, Justice Markandey Katju of the Supreme Court has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to release Dr Khaleel Chishty, a Pakistani prisoner languishing in India for almost 20 years.
The Supreme Court judge has appealed to the PM on humanitarian grounds under Article 72 of the Constitution. He points out that Dr. Chishty is very old and infirm and claims "it will be a disgrace for our country if he dies in jail". Arguing that "time is of the essence in the matter", Justice Katju concludes that "if a pardon is granted it will enhance the prestige of India."
His relatives claim that 80-year-old Dr Khaleel Chishty, a micro-biologist from Karachi, has been at the receiving end of the India-Pakistan tensions for nearly 20 years. In 1992, he came to Ajmer to see his ailing mother but got implicated in a murder case.
"He is suffering so much because he is a Pakistani. I have not been able to see him for the past three months. He needs to be moved in the jail on a stretcher for almost a kilometre for us to meet him. It breaks my heart to see him. I start crying, and he too starts weeping," says Jameel Chishti, brother of Khaleel Chishti.
A heart patient for three decades and unable to walk unaided, Dr Khaleel had to be carried to jail by two people.
Rights activists say making an old and ailing man suffer beyond what he has already gone through is inhuman. They argue for his release not only for the sake of justice but for the sake of humanity.
Two days ago the Pakistan Supreme Court had rejected a petition to appeal to India in this regard saying the case is beyond territorial jurisdiction.
His family in Pakistan is worried that he may not survive much longer and they say his final wish is to return to Pakistan so that he can see his children again and die peacefully.
Hopefully Justice Katju's passionate appeal will bring a new ray of hope to the family and remind the government of a similar situation in which Indian prisoner Gopal Dass, who was in a Pakistan jail for almost 27 years, was released by Pakistan President as a goodwill gesture.