Was Hamid Nihal Ansari Really A Spy?

On December 18, 2018, an Indian boy named “Hamid Nihal Ansari” was released from Mardan Jail and sent back to India. Pakistani media broke the news that “Indian spy Hamid Nihal Ansari” has been released after three years.

When I saw the news on TV, the only question in mind was if Hamid Nihal Ansari was a spy then how was he released, if he was not a spy then why was “Spy” added to his name?

Hamid Nihal Ansari is a resident of Mumbai. Hamid Ansari’s father’s name is Nihal Ansari and mother’s name is Fauzia Ansari. Hamid’s mother Fauzia Ansari is associated with the education department. Hamid Nihal Ansari was a student of engineering.

Through Facebook, Hamid Nihal Ansari befriended a Pakistani girl who fell in love a few months later. The girl belonged to Karak (Kohat) area of ​​Pakistan. The girl invited Hamid to come to Pakistan. Hamid Ansari tried hard to come to Pakistan but he soon realized that going to Pakistan is not an easy task so he decided to enter Pakistan through Afghanistan.

In October 2012, Hamid Nihal Ansari arrived in Afghanistan on his original passport. In Afghanistan, Hamid made a fake Pakistani identity card, fake identity card was made in the name of “Hamza” and with this fake identity card he reached Kohat through the unpaved roads of Jalalabad. Arriving in Kohat, Hamid Nihal Ansari lived in girl’s relative home for two days.

On November 14, 2012, Hamid Nihal Ansari left the house of the girl’s relative and checked in at the Palwashan Hotel in Kohat with the name “Hamza”.

When Hamid was in the hotel, the girl told her family about Hamid and also where he is staying. The girl told her family about the wedding but the family did not listen to her and Informed security agencies.

On November 14, 2012, at the time of Isha, Pakistani security agencies, along with a KDA local police constable, raided the Palwashan Hotel and took Hamid Ansari into custody. The hotel management was questioned and the register in which hamid’s identity was noted down also taken into custody.

After Hamid’s disappearance, Hamid’s family in India found out that he had disappeared, so his mother appealed to the Pakistani government through the media. But no one knew where Hamid was or how he was doing.?

Zeenat Shahzadi, a reporter for a private TV channel from Lahore, contacted Hamid’s mother through Facebook. Hamid’s mother told the whole story to Zeenat Shahzadi and appealed to her to help her find my son in Pakistan. “Zeenat Shahzadi” was a journalist as well as a human rights activist. Zeenat demanded a “Power of attorney” from Hamid’s mother so that Zeenat could work for Hamid in Pakistan. Hamid’s mother prepared a power of attorney from Mumbai, after being attested by the Oath Commissioner, completed all the legal work and sent Zeenat a power of attorney.

Zeenat took the power of attorney and moved to Peshawar. She arrived in Peshawar at the office of Qazi Muhammad Anwar, a well-known lawyer and former president of the Supreme Court Bar. Maybe she knew that no one would take her case except Qazi Anwar. Zeenat discussed the whole matter with Qazi Anwar and requested him to help find Hamid.

Qazi Anwar filed his first writ petition in the Peshawar High Court in December 2012, citing a missing person. The Peshawar High Court issued notices to all security agencies of Pakistan and demanded a report. Notices were sent to various agencies for about ten months, ISI replied that we did not have Hamid, MI replied that we did not have, and this process continued till February 2014. In February 2014, the Peshawar High Court dismissed the writ petition saying that there was no documentary evidence that the missing person, Hamid Nihal Ansari, whose name was being revealed as “Hamza”, had entered Pakistan or not.? No one in Pakistan is ready to wool a man named Hamza, so the first writ petition filed in the Peshawar High Court was quashed.

After some time, Zeenat Shahzadi contacted Qazi Anwar and said, “A document has been found which can prove that Hamid Nihal Ansari or Hamza has entered Pakistan.” Zeenat met Qazi Anwar and showed him the page of the police station diary. This page of the diary was from the same police station from where the security agencies took a constable with them and went to raid the Palwashan Hotel. In the diary, the constable wrote, “I … I am going to Palwashan Hotel with the security agencies of Pakistan whose names I do not know. Similarly, he came back and wrote in the same diary that I … Went with security agencies, we went to Palwashan Hotel, Raided room number so-and-so and arrested an Indian boy named “Hamza”. The boy was taken away by the Security Agencies of Pakistan”.

Qazi Anwar then approached the Peshawar High Court and filed a writ petition to call the constable from the police station and ask him where the boy was and who the agents belonged to. The Peshawar High Court issued notice and summoned the constable to court.

He went where, he accepted the diary and laid out the whole story before the judge. An affidavit was also submitted to the court by the police stating that everything contained in the diary was absolutely true.

The court, after looking into the whole situation, issued a notice to the Ministry of Defense seeking a reply. Notice was to be issued to the Ministry of Defense that “Zeenat Shahzadi” was abducted from Lahore and also disappeared. Zeenat still does not know who abducted her. Her brother committed suicide after her sister was abducted. Why the brother committed suicide is a different matter. In this case, Zeenat was with Qazi Anwar till now. No one knows what happened to Zeenat after that.

In August 2015, the Ministry of Defense submitted a written reply to the High Court through the Attorney General stating that “Hamid Nihal Ansari” who entered Pakistan under the name of Hamza is in the possession of the “Pakistan Army” and his trial is set to begin in a military court. “

Following the response of the Ministry of Defense, the Peshawar High Court dismissed the case against the missing person and the senior judges said, “Now we know that Hamza is in custody of Pakistan Army his case is in the military court, so this case of missing person is dismissed. Peshawar High Court dismissed the case.

Hamid’s family in India was also told that Hamid was in the custody of the Pakistan Army and his case was pending in court.

In December 2015, Qazi Anwar left for Saudi Arabia with his wife for Umrah. In Saudi Arabia, Qazi Anwar overheard a statement from the DG ISPR on TV stating that Indian spy Hamid Nihal Ansari had been sentenced to three years in prison. And he has been transferred to Peshawar Jail.

On his return to Pakistan, Qazi Anwar contacted Masood-ur-Rehman, the superintendent of the jail, and requested that I be allowed to meet Hamid Ansari. Now that Hamid was involved in a civil matter, the role of the army was over, so Qazi Anwar was allowed to meet Hamid.

Qazi Anwar went to Peshawar Jail and met Hamid. Hamid Ansari was kept in the death cell. The provisions of Hamid’s jail warrant included concealment of real identity, entry with fake identity and provisions of anti-state activity. During the meeting, Qazi Sahib asked Hamid to recite Surah Yusuf regularly. Hamid Nihal Ansari belonged to a Muslim family.

On his return, Qazi Anwar again approached the Peshawar High Court and requested that Hamid Ansari be removed from the death cell and treated like a normal person. Approving Qazi Anwar’s plea, the High Court directed the jail superintendent to treat Hamid like a human being without any hassle.

In 2016, Qazi Anwar was celebrating summer holidays with his family in Nathia Gali when human rights activist “Madam Rakhshanda” told Qazi Anwar that Hamid Ansari had been attacked again in jail. Qazi Anwar called Masood-ur-Rehman and asked what happened. The jail superintendent said that the constable who attacked Hamid Ansari has been suspended and an inquiry has been started and Hamid is being rushed to the hospital for medical treatment.

Qazi Anwar immediately took up the matter again in the Peshawar High Court. The High Court summoned the jail superintendent and strongly ordered that Hamid should not be re-admitted to the cell and should be treated like a normal human being. Thus, Hamid Ansari was taken out of the death cell and treated like a normal prisoner.

Qazi Anwar asked Masood-ur-Rehman when Hamid’s sentence would be completed and when he would be released. The jailor said that his sentence would be completed on December 15, 2018 and Hamid would be released on December 16, 2018.

When Qazi Anwar Sahib filed an application for ordinary remission under 382B CRPC, the GHQ replied that since Hamid’s provisions included a section on anti-state activity, the law did not apply to him. Therefore, Hamid has to complete three years of his sentence.

One week before the release of Hamid Nihal Ansari, Qazi Anwar contacted the jail authorities and expressed his desire to meet Hamid Ansari. Prison officials said that you cannot meet him alone, Security Agency’s Representatives will be present and you will meet in front of them. When Qazi Anwar arrived at the jail on Saturday, December 8, to meet Hamid, two MI representatives were present in Mardan Jail. Qazi Anwar met and during the meeting he realized that even after the completion of Hamid Ansari’s sentence, these (agencies) would not release him.

Qazi Anwar, with the permission of the jail authorities, got Hamid Ansari to sign a power of attorney. The Peshawar High Court fixed the case on December 11 and sought a reply from the federal government by December 13. On December 13, a representative of the federal government appeared and told the honorable judges that “Hamid’s release is not possible, we cannot release him,”

It was heard that the hope of Hamid’s release began to disappear again. When he was asked to explain why he could not be released, the representative told the court in what capacity to release Hamid Nihal Ansari, when he has no Pakistani document, no identity, where will he be released? And how will the border cross? How will the Indian government allow it to enter its territory? On which Qazi Anwar read out to the court the agreement between Pakistan and India dated May 12, 2008 which mentioned the issues and arrangements for the release of Indian and Pakistani prisoners.

According to agreement “if any Indian or Pakistani, if he does not have travel documents, he will be handed over to the High Commission of this country and the High Commission will be authorized to prepare his documents or send them directly and this whole process will be done through Wagah border, not by any other route.”

Qazi Anwar asked the court to order that the Interior Ministry should hand over Hamid Ansari to the Indian High Commission and that the Indian High Commission return Hamid to India through Wagah in its custody. On which the court granted the petition of Qazi Anwar and ordered to hand over Hamid to the Indian High Commission on completion of his sentence.

Hamid Ansari’s sentence was completed on December 15, December 16 was a Sunday, so Hamid could not be released. Hamid was not released on December 17. When Qazi Anwar contacted the jail authorities, he found out that process to create the latest travel document is underway and will be released as soon as it is completed. A recent photograph of Hamid was taken and on December 18, the Interior Ministry’s squad reached Mardan Jail from where Hamid Nihal Ansari was released from jail and handed over to the Indian authorities at Wagah border on December 18 at 3:30 p.m.

Hamid’s Facebook record showed that he was not a spy but for a girl he crossed the border. He hides his real identity, then entered another state with a fake identity, giving the impression that he was a Spy, may be involved in an anti-state activity. Therefore, Pakistan’s security agencies did their job well.

“You are not a human being, you are an angel.”

These are the words that Hamid Ansari’s mother uttered as a thank you to “Qazi Muhammad Anwar” when she found her Son back.

(Note: The Story was investigated by Rana Ali Zohaib in December 2018 and Published on Newsmentary.com. Later, the story was removed by the Website owner. Orginally it was published in 2018 , right after the release of Hamid Nihal Ansari.)