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The serious issue of deportation of Pakistani human rights activist Ansar Burney on his arrival at the New Delhi airport last week is sorted out as it was found just a “misunderstanding”.  A Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq from Islamabad confirmed the report today.

The Indian government was in touch with Burney since he was denied entry into India at the New Delhi airport last week. Following his deportation, Burney traveled from Dubai to London.

The spokesman said Burney was not allowed entry into India because of a misunderstanding. The incident happened on May 30.

Initially it was told that Burney was deported because a “look-out” notice had been issued against him. The Home Ministry later explained that he was deported due to “inadequate documentation”.

Burney has played a key role in the release of Indian death row prisoner Kashmir Singh. He is the one who made possible the indefinite delay of execution of Sarabjit Singh, Indian nation prisoner in Pakistan and has been campaigning for clemency for him.

Tags: Burney, India, Pakistan

Pak activist, Ansar Burney, who fought for the release of Indian death row prisoners Kashmir Singh and Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan, was deported back to Dubai from New Delhi on Friday night.

It was reported that a “look-out” notice against him was issued which lead Burney, the leading Pakistani human rights activist, to deport back from the Indira Gandhi International Airport by an Emirates Airways flight at around 2030 hours.

Home Ministry officials, however, could not say who had issued the notice against Burney and in what connection. Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said Burney’s deportation could have been due to “some mistake”.

After his deportation, Burney’s son disclosed this information to some journalists in Delhi through an e-mail.

Burney had visited India in April this year and he had met Sarabjit’s family in Amritsar. He had also met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on April 8.

Burney had successfully secured the release of Kashmir Singh, who spent 35 years on death row in a Lahore jail, on February 20 this year as President Pervez Musharraf approved his mercy petition filed on the Indian’s behalf by the Human Rights ministry.

Airport sources said the reason given to Burney for deportation was that he had wrongly mentioned his port of embarkation.

Burney is doing his best efforts to save Indian nation Sarabjit Singh, blamed for bomb blasts in Lahore in 1990, who took away 14 lives. It was his efforts that led to Pakistan government’s indefinitely postponing execution of Sarabjiit earlier this month.

Tags: Burney, India, Kashmir Singh, Pakistan, Sarabjit Singh

Leading Pakistani rights activist and former human rights minister Ansar Burney, who visited India, on Monday filed a fresh petition seeking clemency for Indian national Sarabjit Singh who is on the death row in Pakistan jail far alleged involvement in the 1990 Lahore blast taking away 14 lives.

“The matter of Sarabjit Singh has become a suspicious case in view of the evidence that I have gathered,” said Burney.

Burney who gathered the evidence for Sarabjit’s case while in India, revealed that Sarabjit`s name did not figure in any of the four FIRs registered by police in connection with the bomb attacks that killed 14 people in Punjab province.

he said, “The identification parade in which Sarabjit was identified was conducted in a police station and not before a magistrate. The evidence in all four FIRs was recorded by one magistrate and not by different magistrates.”

“One of the witnesses, a man named Shaukat, has said that he was forced to testify against Sarabjit in court,” Burney said.

The new dispensation in Pakistan saying to convert all the death sentences to life imprisonment is also favouring Sarabjit’s case.

Burney said that he would raise all these issues in his fresh appeal and will try to meet Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan People`s Party, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani to take up Sarabjit`s case.

After a lot of efforts now there is a ray of hope that Sarabjit might be shown clemency by the new coalition government led by PPP after it assumed office last month.

Tags: Burney, India, Pakistan, Sarabjit Singh