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Years away from home, Vikas is hours away from freedom : The Indian Express
Globetrotter, peacenik, prisoner Vikas Singh`s ordeal is finally over. Serving a three-year term in a Peshawar jail for entering Pakistan without a valid visa, he`s expected to be moved to Lahore as early as Thursday and then handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagha border.
Globetrotter, peacenik, prisoner Vikas Singh’s ordeal is finally over. Serving a three-year term in a Peshawar jail for entering Pakistan without a valid visa, he’s expected to be moved to Lahore as early as Thursday and then handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagha border.
The Indian Express first reported his plight and carried out a campaign to release him which elicited—until last night—over 10,000 messages from all over the world.
Although there was talk of releasing him over the past few days as a goodwill gesture in the run-up to the Agra summit, it was only today that Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf made it official. ‘‘We will release him (Vikas),’’ he told the Associated Press. ‘‘I have already given instructions and hope that it is done very soon. It could be done any day.’’
Earlier in the day, Pak officials said he could be flown to New Delhi but according to an announcement later in the evening, arrangements were being made to move him to Lahore and then the Wagha border.
Vikas was arrested in Pakistan in April and sentenced in the last week of May. On his bicycle, he left Lucknow in October, 1987, for a ‘‘peace mission’’ to over 60 countries telling his family that he would be back in 25 years A Pakistani newspaper, The Statesman, quoted him today as saying that he had been misguided by the Taliban who said the Pakistanis would allow him to enter ‘‘in deference to my mission and credentials.’’ He had lived in Kandahar and Kabul for nine months.
The Indian High Commission got its first consular access to Singh on Wednesday when Second Secretary R K Sharma was allowed to visit Singh. High Commissioner V K Nambiar said that Singh was in good health.
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said though there had been no official intimation about his being set free, since consular access had allowed completion of formalities, ‘‘there should now be no impediment to his release’’. His parents in Lucknow, who have not spoken to him for over two years, are still in the dark with no word from New Delhi. His father, Surendra Singh, told The Indian Express this evening that he won’t go to New Delhi unless the family was officially informed about his release.
But in an interview to PTI, Singh said: ‘‘I am indebted to General Musharraf for releasing my son and I sincerely pray to God for the success of the summit which has come as a blessing in disguise to us.’’
Although there was talk of releasing him over the past few days as a goodwill gesture in the run-up to the Agra summit, it was only today that Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf made it official. ‘‘We will release him (Vikas),’’ he told the Associated Press. ‘‘I have already given instructions and hope that it is done very soon. It could be done any day.’’
Earlier in the day, Pak officials said he could be flown to New Delhi but according to an announcement later in the evening, arrangements were being made to move him to Lahore and then the Wagha border.
Vikas was arrested in Pakistan in April and sentenced in the last week of May. On his bicycle, he left Lucknow in October, 1987, for a ‘‘peace mission’’ to over 60 countries telling his family that he would be back in 25 years A Pakistani newspaper, The Statesman, quoted him today as saying that he had been misguided by the Taliban who said the Pakistanis would allow him to enter ‘‘in deference to my mission and credentials.’’ He had lived in Kandahar and Kabul for nine months.
The Indian High Commission got its first consular access to Singh on Wednesday when Second Secretary R K Sharma was allowed to visit Singh. High Commissioner V K Nambiar said that Singh was in good health.
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said though there had been no official intimation about his being set free, since consular access had allowed completion of formalities, ‘‘there should now be no impediment to his release’’. His parents in Lucknow, who have not spoken to him for over two years, are still in the dark with no word from New Delhi. His father, Surendra Singh, told The Indian Express this evening that he won’t go to New Delhi unless the family was officially informed about his release.
But in an interview to PTI, Singh said: ‘‘I am indebted to General Musharraf for releasing my son and I sincerely pray to God for the success of the summit which has come as a blessing in disguise to us.’’