August 30, 2002	Friday	Jamadi-us-Saani 20, 1423

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WASHINGTON, Aug 29: The United States says Afghanistan’s decision to free hundreds of Pakistani prisoners languishing in jails since the fall of the Taliban regime last year will not encourage violence and terrorism.

Commenting on media interviews by some prisoners, who vowed to restart a holy war against the United States if released, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that Pakistan and Afghanistan had already worked out plans to prevent violence.

“We’ve been in touch with Pakistan and Afghanistan. When there are people released, they’ll go back into government custody in one way or the other,” Boucher said, explaining the arrangement between the neighbouring states to keep the prisoners from joining another jihad. “They will be looked at, and appropriate authorities will decide what happens to them.”

He said Pakistan and Afghanistan had held similar exchanges of prisoners before and “have mechanisms to make sure that people who are going to engage in further violence aren’t put out to do what they want.”

The recipient government would have the opportunity to make sure people who might engage in violence were not released, Boucher said.