Indian free in Pakistan after serving 3 years for spying

ISLAMABAD – An Indian man convicted of spying in Pakistan is free after serving a three-year prison sentence.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman, Mohammad Faisal, said on Monday that Indian national Hamid Nehal Ansari is being repatriated to New Delhi. He didn’t elaborate.

Ansari was arrested in 2012 on entering Pakistan from neighbouring Afghanistan. He was sentenced in 2015 to three years in prison over alleged involvement in crimes against the state and using invalid documents to enter the country.

Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations and since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, they have fought two of their three wars over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

The two often arrest one another’s nationals on espionage charges.