Click to play videoNew Delhi: Kashmir Singh, a resident of Hoshiarpur in Punjab is a free man after 35 years in a Pakistani prison.
Cameras jostled for space, waiting for a glimpse of the man who was on death row for 35 years.
They had stationed outside Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail in anticipation of a historic and emotional moment.
But it was after many hours of confusion and false alarms, close to 0900 hrs (IST) on Monday that Kashmir Singh stepped outside to a free world and flashbulbs lit up capturing the moment for prosperity.
Moments later, speaking to CNN-IBN, he thanked Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for granting him pardon, and a new lease of life.
"I have got a new life," says Kashmir Singh.
And the man who brought him freedom thought it was a great day for Pakistan.
"This is a great honour for Pakistan, that the President, after 35 years has released this man, and now he is returning to his home,” says Pakistan's minister for human rights, Ansar Burney.
Sixty kilometre away, across an imaginary line separating India and Pakistan, a family was sitting glued to the television.
A wife and son were stunned by the events unfolding in front their eyes.
'I am very happy that he is coming back,” says Kashmir Singh’s wife, Paramjit Kaur.
With them was G C Bharadwaj, who couldn't wait to see his childhood friend.
"He was very energetic and very adventurous that is why he has put in all these 36 years in jail and he is still hail and hearty. I would love to see him and I would love to embrace him,” says Bharadwaj.
Kashmir Singh was arrested on charges of espionage in 1973. The courts there sentenced him to death, but call it providence, Kashmir Singh all of 67 years, now returns to a country he left as a young man.
(With inputs from Jyoti Kamal)
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