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Updated: Aug 07, 2019 14:28 IST

Hamid Ansari, the man Sushma Swaraj helped bring back from a Pakistan jail, says the former external affairs minister’s death was a ‘big loss’ for him

“I have deep respect for her and she’ll always stay alive in my heart. She was like a mother to me. After my return from Pakistan, she guided me to look ahead. It’s a big loss for me,” ANI quoted Ansari as saying. He spent three years in a Pakistan jail.

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Ansari had entered Pakistan on November 12, 2012, to meet a woman whom he had befriended on social media. The 33-year-old was arrested in November 2012 and handed a three-year sentence in 2015 for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card.

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Ansari had been lodged in Peshawar’s central jail after being sentenced by the military court. His jail term ended on December 15 and he was repatriated after the Peshawar high court gave the Pakistani government a month’s deadline to complete the process.

“I was worried and unsure if I would ever be able to return home from Pakistan, but eventually when I saw there were a lot of people supporting me, I started praying. My family, the Indian government and Sushma Swaraj helped me a lot,” Ansari had said on his return.

“Mera Bharat mahaan, meri madam mahaan, sab madam ne hi kiya hai (My India is great, my madam is great. You did everything),” Ansari’s mother Fauzia said on his return.