PESHAWAR, Dec 30: The governments of the NWFP and Afghanistan have agreed to review matters related to Pakistani prisoners in Afghanistan and their early release.

This was decided during a meeting of the NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani and Afghan Minister for Information and Cultural Affairs Dr Sayed Makhdoom Raheen here at Frontier House Peshawar on Monday.

Durrani welcomed the release procedure and underscored the need to free all Pakistani prisoners in Afghan jails.

These prisoners also included the innocent people who had gone there for Tableegh (preaching), he told the Afghan minister.

The chief minister said that he had already issued directives to review the cases of Afghan prisoners in Frontier jails and had asked for a report in this regard.

A mechanism would be evolved to free Afghan prisoners involved in petty offences.

Durrani said that Frontierites still maintained steady relations with Afghan refugees in the province which would continue forever.

Referring to the Afghan properties in Peshawar, the CM said that this matter was being considered by the court of justice. However, he said that the MMA government would not do any injustice in the matter.

Durrani and Dr Sayed Makhdoom Raheen emphasized the need to jointly preserve the archives, relics and historical emoluments of the area.

For almost three decades, both nations had experienced true friendship which has been sacrificial in nature.

Earlier, the Afghan minister felicitated the chief minister on the formation of the MMA government in the NWFP.

He said that this region has remained a cradle of joint civilization and shared a long history.

“We wanted to jointly preserve our historical archives and exchange unhistorical information in the interest of both nations,” Raheen said.

He said that it was their collective obligation to protect their historical wealth for future generations. The Afghan minister inaugurated the Cultural Foundation at the Afghan Consulate here.

Politicians, ministers, envoys of foreign missions in Peshawar and a large number of Afghan and Pakistani cream attended the ceremony.