Jammu, Sep 23 : In a humanitarian gesture, India on Monday handed back a Pakistani national, who had inadvertently crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into the country in J&K's Poonch district, officials said.

Officials said that Hassam Shahzad had been handed over to Pakistani officials by the Army.

The gate at Chakan-Da-Bagh was opened and the Indian Army handed over Shahzad, 34, son of Shahzad Ahmed Khan, a resident of Tetrinote in POK.

"He was apprehended by the Indian Army on the intervening night of September 21/22 after he inadvertently crossed into this side of the fence. During the handing over and taking over the process, many officers from the army, police, and civil administration were present," the official said.

Shahzad was apprehended in the Mendhar sector by alert Indian troops.

Army and the security forces have been maintaining maximum alert in the hinterland and on the LoC and the international border in J&K as Assembly elections are being held here after 10 years.

The voting for the first phase of the 3-phased Assembly election in J&K was held on September 18.

Voting in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch and the Reasi districts of Jammu division and in the Ganderbal, Srinagar and Budgam districts of the Kashmir Valley will be held on September 25 while voting in three districts of Kashmir -- Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora and three districts of Janmu division -- Jammu, Samba and Kathua, will be held in the third and final phase on October 1.

The counting of votes will be taken up on October 8.

/IANS