Pakistan returns gesture

ISLAMABAD - To further strengthen the process of composite dialogue being revived between India and Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday remitted the remaining jail term of Gopal Das, an Indian convict, on humanitarian grounds. The remission was granted on the advice of the Prime Minister to honour the appeal of the Supreme Court of India, Spokesperson to the President, Farhatullah Babar said. The remission of the Indian convict Gopal Das, detained in jail for the past 27 years, came at a time when both South Asian nuclear neighbours are set to revive series of peace talks. Farhatullah Babar said that the several Indian newspapers recently reported that in an unusual step the Supreme Court of India appealed to Pakistan to consider granting remission to Gopal Das on humanitarian ground. About two weeks ago, the Indian Supreme Court made the appeal while disposing of a writ petition filed by Gopal Das through his brother. The bench comprising Justice Markandey and Justice Gyan Sudha had observed, We cannot give any direction to Pakistan authorities because we have no jurisdiction over them. The Indian authorities have done all that they could in the matter. However, that does not prevent us from making a request to the Pakistani authorities to consider the appeal of the petitioner for releasing him on humanitarian ground by remitting the remaining path of his sentence. Justice Markandey had also quoted a couplet by Faiz: Qafas uddas hai yaaro sabaa se kuch to kaho, Kaheen to beher-e-khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale. Farhatullah Babar said that according to official record, the convict was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1987 and was to be released by the end of this year under the law. The spokesperson said that acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, based on the appeal of the Supreme Court of India, the President remitted the remaining term of Gopal Das. Farhatullah Babar said that the President signed the remission advice in the wee hours of Sunday soon after the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was accepted and it was decided that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would proceed to Mohali to witness the semi-final cricket match between the teams of the two countries. It may be mentioned that the interior secretaries of Pakistan and India will meet on Monday. Monitoring Desk adds: The Pakistan government, in a goodwill gesture on Sunday, cancelled a Gurdwara land acquisition deal, reported CNN-IBN. This was announced by the Pakistan Interior Secretary during his visit to Golden Temple on Sunday.