India hopeful of early release of Pak's Dr Chishty, says Nirupama Rao

Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao in Islamabad for foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan, said today that that she will take steps to reduce the trust defcit between the two nations.

Rao, who said that she had come to Pakistan with an open mind, also said that she was hopeful of the early release of Pakistan's Dr Chishty, a 78-year-old virologist is currently serving a life sentence in Rajasthan.

A session court in Ajmer had awarded Chishty a life sentence on January 31 this year in a murder case after an 18-year-long trial. He had filed an appeal in the high court but his bail plea had been rejected.

Chishty, who was a professor of Virology in Karachi Medical College, holds a PhD from Edinburgh University.

Chishty had got involved in a fracas during his visit to Ajmer in 1992 to meet his ailing mother and, in the melee, one person was killed leading to his arrest.

During the trial period, the sessions court, which had granted him bail, had ordered Chishty not to leave Ajmer and he was re-arrested after his conviction.