Acquitted after 19 years, Pak refuses to acknowledge him as its citizen

A 70-year-old Pakistani national, after spending 19 years in jail for a terror case, has been languishing in a local UP police thana even after being “technically released” and acquitted by the Allahabad high court in 2019. As per the reports, the Government of Pakistan has refused to acknowledge him as its citizen, hence, he is not being deported to Pakistan.

Shamli:A 70-year-old Pakistani national, after spending 19 years in jail for a terror case, has been languishing in a local UP police thana even after being “technically released” and acquitted by the Allahabad High Court in 2019. According to reports, the Government of Pakistan has refused to acknowledge him as their, hence, he was not being deported to Pakistan.

Mohammad Waris alias Raza, a resident of Wazirabad, Gujranwala in Pakistan, was arrested in 2000 at the age of 48 by a police team of Kandhla police station in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. At the time of arrest, the police claimed to have recovered some grenades and guns from his possession. Mohammad visited India to meet an old friend and was staying at Ashfaq Nanhe's house, who was also arrested, along with three others. During the investigation, police discovered links between Waris and terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed and booked him under Section 121 (attempt to wage war against the country) 121-A (conspiracy to commit an offence under section 121), 122 (collection of arms, etc. with intent to wage war against the Government of India) and 123 (concealment with intent to facilitate waging war) of IPC. Waris was additionally charged under Sections of the Foreigners Act, Explosives Substance Act and the Passport Act.

In 2017, a Muzaffarnagar trial court awarded Nanhe and Waris life sentences. However, Waris was acquitted of charges under the Passport Act and Explosives Substance Act. During the trial, Waris plead himself "not guilty" and told the court he reached India with a valid passport, but it was torn by the Shamli police during an argument after his arrest.

After 19 years, in 2019, the High Court heard an appeal filed by Waris from jail in Bareilly and set aside the lower court’s 2017 judgment awarding life sentences to the convicts. The court said it had found “glaring structural discrepancies” on the part of the prosecution. The HC, however, upheld the lower court’s verdict under the Foreigners Act, which attracted three years of imprisonment. By this time, Waris had already served 19 years of sentence, therefore he was “technically” released in December 2019. But, since then also he was under the close watch of the police as Pakistan has refused to acknowledge him as its citizen making deportation of him not possible.