Acquitted 10 years ago, ‘Pakistan man’ remains in jail as Islamabad says not our citizen

HYDERABAD: Even as India has ordered Pakistani nationals to pack up and leave in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, two jailbirds have found themselves trapped in a diplomatic and bureaucratic vacuum. India is keen to deport the two, accused of different crimes, but Pakistan refuses to accept them as its citizens.

Among them is Sher Ali Keshwani, 76, a former hawala operator, who has remained in Cherlapally Central Prison for nearly a decade despite being acquitted in an espionage case. On the other hand, Mohammed Nazir, 53, who completed his five-year sentence in 2018 for illegally practising as a Unani doctor in India, remains confined to Chanchalguda Central Prison.

Nazir's saga began on Nov 18, 2013 when Border Security Force (BSF) personnel apprehended him near the India-Pakistan border in Gujarat's Bhuj district. He confessed to being a Karachi native who had entered India via Nepal in 2006. After reaching Hyderabad, he assumed the identity of a Unani doctor using falsified documents and even married a local woman from Barkas in the city.

The legal journey was complex. While Nazir was initially accused of serious charges, including violations of the Foreigners Act, the chief metropolitan magistrate's court in Nampally found him guilty only of fraudulently practising medicine.

The court dismissed charges related to illegal entry citing insufficient evidence of his Pakistani nationality. "Obtaining the PAN card, voter ID Card, driving licence, Aadhaar and bank account opening form by Nazir while professing himself to be an Indian national cannot be termed as illegal since the Pakistani nationality of the accused was tried and negatived in sessions court at Bhuj," the court said in 2018, sentencing Nazir to simple imprisonment of five years.

Nazir finished his jail term on Dec 9, 2018, as he had remained in judicial remand since Dec 11, 2013. "We sent reminders to the Pakistan embassy via MHA every year to deport Nazir. He was also provided access to the Pakistan embassy consular services. But the Pakistan authorities have so far not accepted him as their citizen. On state govt's orders, Nazir has been kept in safe custody at Chanchalguda prison," said a Telangana prisons department official.

Keshwani, meanwhile, was arrested in Agra in 2004 and implicated in an espionage case in Hyderabad, but was acquitted in 2015. However, the court's verdict highlighted a crucial ambiguity: while prosecutors couldn't prove his Pakistani citizenship, Keshwani failed to establish his claimed Indian identity.

On March 8, 2024, Hyderabad Task Force police arrested one Mallik Arshad Mahemood, a Pakistani national, from an internet cafe in Koti. From his room at Mutyal Bagh in Abids, officials recovered evidence that suggested he was gathering information about defence establishments in Secunderabad.

Mallik confessed that he got Rs 30,000 from Mumbai-based Keshwani in Aug 2003. Keshwani was named as accused in the case and charged under the Foreigners Act, and the Official Secrets Act along with criminal conspiracy and other sections.

When Keshwani's term at the Agra prison was about to end in 2013, Hyderabad police brought him to the city on a transit warrant and lodged him at the Cherlapally prison. On March 9, 2015, a local court acquitted him, observing, "The prosecution has not produced any evidence to show that Keshwani is a Pakistani national. At the same time, Keshwani has not produced any evidence to show he is an Indian and not a foreign national." Arshad, who was convicted in the case, completed his sentence in 2016 and was deported to Pakistan in 2017.

Telangana prison authorities tried to deport Keshwani but failed. "Pakistan refused to accept Keshwani as their citizen. Keshwani claims to be from Mumbai, but he does not have any family there or has documents to support his claim. He remains in detention at Cherlapally prison through a state govt order," a Cherlapally prison official said.