Ansari home; will find job, wife but won't reopen 'old wounds'

Back home after six years in a Pakistani jail, software engineer Hamid Nihal Ansari Thursday said he wants to move on, instead of 'reopening old wounds' about the pain he endured during this period.

Ansari, 33, who reached Mumbai to a cheering welcome by friends and relatives, said he wants to get a job and then find a suitable match for himself (pehle naukri phir chhokri).

"I don't want to recall what happened with me (while in Pakistan). I want to look at the future," he said.

Ansari was arrested in Pakistan in 2012 for allegedly entering that country from Afghanistan reportedly to meet a woman he had befriended online. Pakistan slapped espionage charges against him. He was repatriated on Tuesday and handed over to India at the Wagah-Attari border.

Ansari and his parents landed here Thursday morning from Delhi by an Air India flight. Relatives, friends and well-wishers greeted and cheered for him as he came out of the airport.

The family then left for their residence in suburban Versova. When they reached home, they were greeted by a large number of neighbours who were waiting to catch his glimpse.

Speaking to media persons at the airport, Ansari said, "I made some mistakes but now I want to look ahead to the future."