NEW DELHI, Dec 13: Indian Supreme Court’s Wednesday verdict to acquit Pakistani microbiologist Khalil Chishti of murder charge has come just ahead of Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s three-day visit to New Delhi from Friday, raising the prospect that the freed man could travel home with him.
Official sources close to the proposed talks which are to focus on the signing of a new liberalised visa regime between the two countries, said there was nothing obstructing the proposal should Mr Malik decide to take Dr Chishti and his wife back with him.
“There’s no official plan on the Chishti issue, but there is nothing to rule it out,” a source said.
“I am happy and I feel vindicated.” This is how Dr Chishti reacted to his acquittal by the Supreme Court of murder charge on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Hindu on the Supreme Court lawns here, Dr Chishti, sitting in a wheelchair, said: “I first thanked God on hearing the judgment. It is an honest and very good decision. Though the legal process is delayed, I and my family are very happy…”
Dr Chishti, who has a son, five daughters with grandsons, granddaughters and great-granddaughters, was in tears when the news that he was now a free man came.
“I am an educated person. It is very difficult to bring about changes in legal procedure that has been going on. I have tolerated it in the hope that finally truth will prevail.
I have not spoken a single word during the entire proceedings. Whatever statement I made initially proved to be correct… and I stand vindicated by the judgment,” he told the paper.
Asked whether he regretted the inordinate delay in his release, he said: “I don’t regret. The final judgment has come and [it] is a sensible judgment. The fact that I returned to India [and] executed the bond shows I am a law-abiding person.”
“When I was granted bail and went back home, I could not sleep well because the judgment was hanging on my head. But now after the judgment, I will have a peaceful sleep,” he said.
Asked whether the judgment would help to improve relations between India and Pakistan, he said it was for the political leadership to decide. On Indian convict Sarabjit Singh’s mercy petition in Pakistan, he said the two cases were different. While his was a case of murder, Sarabjit’s related to national security; hence both could not be compared.