Pak President to send special aircraft to bring back Chishti

Islamabad, May 15 (PTI) President Asif Ali Zardari is sending a special aircraft to New Delhi today to bring back Pakistan's ailing virologist Khalil Chishti who has been allowed by India's Supreme Court to go to Pakistan for a temporary stay till November when it will hear an appeal filed by him challenging his conviction in a murder case in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The special jet will fly the 82-year-old Chishti from New Delhi to Pakistan, where he will received on his arrival by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, official sources said. Reports in the Pakistani media said Interior Minister Malik had spoken on phone to Chishti and informed him that all arrangements had been made to bring him back to Pakistan. Chishti is expected to be in Pakistan by this evening. On May 10, India's Supreme Court allowed Chishti to visit Pakistan before his appeal against his conviction in the murder case is taken up. He is accused of involvement in the murder of a man during a brawl in Ajmer, Rajasthan, in April 1992. At the time, Chishti was visiting India to meet relatives and to offer prayers at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer. In January last year, Chishti was given life imprisonment after an 18-year trial and after the sentencing, he was detained in Ajmer Jail. India's Supreme Court ordered Chishti's release on bail a month ago. In a personal letter sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month, President Asif Ali Zardari asked for Chishti to be released and repatriated on humanitarian grounds. Zardari had also taken up the issue of Chishti with Singh during a day-long private visit to India on April 8. PTI