Vizag man in 2 arrested in Pakistan for illegal border crossing

Hyderabad: Pakistani authorities have arrested two Indian nationals for allegedly entering the country illegally from Rajasthan, reports said. Officially, the two Indians, who are being sent to jail, have been identified as Darilal from Madhya Pradesh and Prashanth from Visakhapatnam.

A video of Prashanth, in which he is seen addressing his parents in Telugu, has gone viral. The man is reportedly heard saying, “Mummy and daddy are you fine? Here (Pakistan), everything is okay. They (referring to Pakistan police) have brought me to the local court from the police station. They have declared that there is no problem (given me a clearance). I am being sent to the jail from here, and after which, they (Pakistan police) will be contacting the Indian embassy and further contact you. I may get released in a month.”

The duo was apprehended in the eastern city of Bahawalpur in Punjab province on Monday. The authorities found no proper documents with them, and so the officials registered a case against the duo, a report quoted the police as saying.

One of the apprehended is believed to be a software engineer. Several questions are being raised from various sources on whether he was sent to Pakistan to carry out a “terror attack”.

Earlier in August, Pakistan’s Punjab province police claimed to have arrested an “Indian spy” in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan. The man was handed over to Pakistan’s intelligence agency. The “Indian spy” was identified as Raju Lakshman. Interestingly, he was arrested from the same province where Pakistan claimed it arrested Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav.

It is important to note that Jadhav (49), a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of “espionage and terrorism” in April 2017. After which, India moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking a stay on his death sentence and requesting further remedies.