KARACHI, Feb 15: The government on Wednesday released 562 Afghan nationals, including children, who had been kept in jail for up to a year after violating immigration laws, officials said.

The freed Afghan nationals were handed over to the officials at the Afghan Consulate, who will make arrangements for their deportation, said Rauf Siddiqui, Home Minister Sindh.

“We have freed 562 Afghan prisoners who were arrested as illegal immigrants in the last one year on humanitarian grounds,” Siddiqui told AFP.

“It’s a good omen that their release has come at a time when Afghan President Hamid Karzai is visiting Pakistan,” he said.

Mr Siddiqui said that the security situation was improving in Afghanistan so it was the right time to send all Afghans back to their country.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the prisoners’ release coincided with the visit by Mr Karzai but that it was an independent humanitarian gesture.

The release of Afghans had come as a result of negotiations between the two countries, Afghan Consul General Abdul Muqtader Frazanfar told reporters in Karachi.

The freed Afghans said they were happy to be out of jail.

“I wanted to go back few months ago but was arrested on Afghan border near the town of Chaman and was sent to Karachi prison,” Khaliq Dad, 17, from Kabul, told AFP.

“I am very happy and hope to see my parents soon. I came here to earn some money but will now do some work in Kabul,” he said.

Lal Mohammad, 20, said he was working in Karachi’s fruit market for the last two years, but was arrested when he tried to cross the border six months ago.