'Hamid's return nothing short of Bakri Eid festivities'

For the kin of Hamid Ansari, the software engineer’s return to India after six years in a Pakistan jail is nothing short of Bakri Eid festivities.

The 33-year-old from Mumbai was reunited with his family after he returned to India through the Attari-Wagah border on Tuesday evening.

Hamid is expected to reach Mumbai on Wednesday and family and friends are all set to welcome him back after the long gap.

“This feels nothing short of Bakri Eid. This is a big day for us and the family is going to celebrate his return to the motherland,” Hamid’s cousin Zia Ur Rahman said.

Zia Ur, 43, said: “Our family is very happy on the arrival of Hamid and we are grateful to Allah for bringing him back in our midst.

WATCH: Hamid Nihal Ansari crosses over into India from Pakistan

Hamid was released from a jail in Peshawar on Tuesday for repatriation. He was arrested in 2012 for illegally entering Pakistan from Afghanistan, reportedly to meet a girl he had befriended online.

The software engineer was subsequently sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by a military court in 2015 for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card. The Mumbai
resident’s term ended on December 15, but he was not able to leave for India as his legal documents were not ready.

Zia Ur, who is also a software engineer and works with Tata Consultancy Services, stays with his family in Mumbai Central area.

He credited Hamid’s mother for ensuring her son’s safe return to India. “It was a fight between the aged mother and the system in which the mother won,” he said, adding she single-handedly struggled to get Hamid back.

“The Indian government, specially External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan played very crucial role in Hamid’s release and our family is grateful to these leaders,” he said.

“I spoke to Hamid’s brother, who was at the Wagah border to receive him. He said they are returning home on Wednesday,” he said.

He said his 70-year-old mother Meharunnisa regularly prayed for Hamid and his family.

“Now he is back safe and secure, let us give him enough time to settle down and then I will go to meet him. But for now, he needs a break. Let him forget everything that happened with him in Pakistan prison,” he said.