Marina Baber
ISLAMABAD: In a unilateral goodwill gesture, India on Friday released nine Pakistani prisoners, four civil prisoners and five fishermen.
The spokesperson at the Foreign Office added that earlier, India had released 37 Pakistani prisoners, 5 civil and 32 fishermen on May 30, 2014. Currently, 477 Pakistani prisoners, 346 civil and 131 fishermen, still remain lodged in Indian jails. Out of these, 22 civil prisoners have completed their sentence and await repatriation.
It would be pertinent to add here a report from Aman Ki Asha which states that the Supreme Court Bar Associations in India and Pakistan have agreed to help prisoners detained in each country.
Supreme Court Bar Associations of India and Pakistan are working together to help Pakistani and Indian prisoners detained in each country, following the visit to Pakistan of SCBA India’s senior executive member Prof Bhim Singh at the invitation of the Lawyers Congress, headed by Zulfiqar Ali Jehangir.
The Executive Committee of SCBA India on June 28 sent a letter thanking SCBA Pakistan for facilitating and honouring Prof Bhim Singh during his 10-day visit to Pakistan in May.
In Lahore, the Supreme Court Bar Association (Pakistan) presented Prof Singh, has over the past 15 years provided free legal aid to hundreds of Pakistanis detained or under trial in Indian jails, with a shield. This is the first time an Indian lawyer was so honoured in Pakistan.
As a result of petitions filed by Prof Bhim Singh’s State Legal Aid Committee, the Supreme Court of India has over the years intervened to free nearly 250 Pakistani prisoners.Pakistan, earlier had on the even of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to New Delhi as a goodwill gesture, released 151 Indian Prisoners (01 civil and 150 fishermen) .
Pakistan on Friday said that it has always held that the issue of prisoners in our respective countries is a humanitarian one and should be taken in that spirit. It is our hope that the Government of India would release all Pakistani prisoners who have completed their sentences.
These must be the only two countries that use these prisoners as “human barter,” using these goodwill gestures to signal each other even though both countries release citizens who have already completed their sentence.
Another irony is that ‘spooks’ once arrested are rarely recognized as a ‘citizen’ by either side, and he or she crosses the international border knowing well what is a global tradition that once caught they are on their own.
In the recent past there have been two well publicised cases of Indians who once have reached Attari screamed loudly that they had been sent into Pakistan by RAW, and they would now sue this agency for disowning them.
Saddest is the fact that many Pakistanis have returned completely broken down and mentally challenged. It is for this reason also that the newly set up Legal Aid Committee should ensure that prisoners do not reach a breaking down point.
