Help Indo-Pak prisoners: A most vulnerable community


Help Indo-Pak prisoners: A most vulnerable community

India and Pakistan must complete nationality verification of each other’s prisoners in 90 days, demands the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) in a press statement expressing deep concern particularly about the case of a prisoner in Jammu from Pakistan, a young mother named Rubeena incarcerated in prison along with her minor daughter.

A resident of Musa Colony, Hyderabad, Sindh, Rubeena remains in Indian prison even after having completed her sentence since Pakistan has not verified her nationality.

She had visited Delhi in November 2012 for medical treatment for asthma, accompanied by her husband and four-month-old daughter. According to reports, she has said that her husband abandoned her and disappeared with her documents and money. Indian authorities arrested Rubeena on November 6, 2012. She was sentenced to imprisonment, and completed her sentence on Oct. 7, 2013.

Nearly four years after Pakistan was provided consular access to her on Feb. 26, 2013 in Amritsar, her nationality remains unconfirmed. Chaudhry Nisar, Interior Minister, Pakistan took note of this case and has enquired about the details, directing thef authorities to take action within 48 hours.

In a similar case, Rashid Mallah, a Pakistani fisherman, remains in jail in Kutch, India, pending confirmation of his nationality.

Due to delays by the Indian government in confirming the nationality of 14 Indian fishermen, the fishermen remained imprisoned in Pakistan long after having completed their sentences, and were returned to India finally last year.

Such delays are the main reasons that many cross-border prisoners are forced to languish in jails for years, points out PIPFPD. “It is also important to note that there have been cases in recent years when even in case of death of a prisoner, the body is not sent to the family for months because the nationality verification is not done”.

PIPFPD demands that the nationality verification of prisoners must be done within a fixed time limit notified by both the countries which should not be more than 90 days. Also, the verification must definitely be done before the completion of the sentence of any prisoner in either of the two countries.

“We also demand that once the sentence is complete, a person should not be kept in prison and until the time that the nationality verification has not been conducted, adequate measures should be ensured towards right to safe and secure life within the premises, the breach of which should be considered the gravest of human right violation. No prisoner – be they Indian or Pakistani – should suffer because of delay in nationality verification”.

It should be further noted that Indian prisoner Hamid Ansari from Mumbai, sentenced in 2015 to three years in prison for illegal entry, has actually been in custody of the Pakistani authorities since November 2012. Since he has in effect been imprisoned for over four years now, activists on both sides are also demanding his immediate release.




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