BAHAWALPUR, Aug 10: The Supreme Court of India will hear the writ petition of a detained Pakistani, Sohail Shehzad of Bahawalpur, on Aug 18.

Muhammad Anis, nephew of the detenu, told Dawn that during the last hearing in July, 2008, the Supreme Court had called for a report on petitioner’s detention from the Indian government.

Sohail Shehzad, 52, a resident of Fauji Basti, has been languishing in different Indian jails for the last 20 years. Presently, he is imprisoned in Jaipur jail.

Anis said that Shehzad, a refrigerator mechanic, had in 1988 gone to attend a friend’s marriage at Mauza Basirpur, Pakpattan district.

On March 25, 1988, while hunting in the area he had mistakenly crossed the border where he was taken into custody by the Indian border security force. Later, a case was registered against him under the Immigration Act.

He said that Shahzad had informed his father Syed Manzoor Hussain Shah, a railway mail service employee, about his arrest after three months through a letter.

He was sentenced to three-year rigorous imprisonment and was implicated in another case after he completed his sentence. Shahzad’s father, who has now joined the majority, had also gone to India to secure his release, but he had to return empty-handed.

His brother Syed Mubashir Ali, a lecturer in Government College, Bhakkar, has also written several letters to the Indian authorities, but to no avail.

Anis said his uncle was implicated in false cases under secret act, public safety act and section 109.

He said a noted Indian human rights lawyer, Balwant Singh Bloria Raj, was pursuing his uncle’s case in the Supreme Court of India.

He appealed to the human rights activists of Pakistan and India to extend their legal and moral support for the release of his uncle from the Indian jail.

Anis said that his jailed uncle’s mother, Nafees Anjum, was eagerly awaiting the release of his son.