The family of 80-year-old Pakistani national Khalil Chishti, currently being held in a jail in Rajasthan, today expressed joy at the Indian Supreme Court's order for his release on bail. Chishti's daughter Shoha told the media that she had seen the news of her father being granted bail on TV.

"We are all very happy. I came home and informed my mother, who offered special prayers of thanksgiving," she said. His release on bail was "due to God" and efforts by countless Pakistanis and Indians, she said. Chishti was serving life term in an Ajmer jail in a murder case of 1992.

The family had last met Chishti when it had travelled to Rajasthan in December last year, she added. She said she and her sister Aamna had written to President Asif Ali Zardari on April 5, before he embarked on a private visit to India, to take up the case of their father with the Indian leadership.