Pakistan to release Indian prisoner today

Indian national Gopal Dass, lodged in a jail in Pakistan for the last 27 years on spying charges after he purportedly crossed the border by mistake, is expected to be released on Thursday, media reports said.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Mar 27 had remitted the remaining term of Dass, an inmate of a jail in Lahore, on the advice of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani after both were invited by Indian PM Manmohan Singh to watch the India-Pakistan cricket World Cup semi-final as part of renewed attempts to soothe awkward ties.

Pakistan?s Presidential Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar was quoted as saying the “remission was granted on the advice of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to honour the appeal of the Supreme Court of India to the government of Pakistan.”

Dass, whose life term was nearing an end was to be released later this year, will be repatriated to India at Amritsar by the Pakistani government on Thursday, media reports said.