PESHAWAR, July 22: Sindh tops the list of the recent returnees from the US naval base at the Cuban island of Guantanamo Bay followed by Punjab, the NWFP and Balochistan.

The list of 11 Pakistanis released by the United States from its detention camp last week includes four Pakistanis from Sindh, three from Punjab and two each from the NWFP and Balochistan.

This is the second group of Pakistanis released from Guantanamo Bay. The first Pakistani, Mohammad Sagheer from Kohistan, who is suing the US government for $10.4 million, was released from Camp X-Ray November last. Three others were released in May this year. This brings the total number of Pakistanis released from Guantanamo Bay to 14. Government officials say 42 Pakistanis remained at the American prison reserved for Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees.

One of the returnees, Mohammad Ansar from Bhalwal, Sargodha, has been moved to a hospital inside Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, and the remaining 10 have been locked up at the same facility to undergo debriefing and security checks.

This is the first time, the Pakistani returnees from Guantanamo Bay are being held back for so many days. Earlier, the federal government had freed the Pakistanis go home immediately after holding them back briefly for debriefing.

“The returnees would be interrogated by a Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) in Adiala before they are either released or turned over to the province for a local JIT,” an official familiar with the process said.

He said under instructions from the federal government, all Pakistani prisoners released from Afghanistan or Guantanamo Bay were interrogated by a JIT team which in most cases declared them ‘white’, leading to their freedom. In case, they were declared ‘grey’, they could be held briefly before handing them over to their respective provinces for further JIT at local levels, the official added. “Those declared ‘grey’ are entitled to bail but the ‘black’ ones are placed under detention,” he said.

Those who were released from Guantanamo Bay in the first group had all been declared ‘white’ and subsequently freed.

The federal government is also holding back the names and addresses of these returnees.

The returnees in their preliminary interrogation by security agencies revealed that they had been caught by the Northern Alliance forces and handed over to the Americans, who had kept them at their transit detention camp at Kandahar in southwestern Afghanistan before transporting them to Guantanamo Bay.