April 16, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 15: India has agreed to release 150 Pakistanis languishing in its jails after completion of their sentence.

Former caretaker minister for human Rights Ansar Burney said on his return after a two-week visit to India on Tuesday that he had succeeded in negotiating the release of the prisoners.

He said in a statement that he had brought details with pictures of over 150 Pakistani prisoners lodged in various Indian prisons whom the Indian government had agreed to release and repatriate to Pakistan after confirming their nationality.

He said some of the prisoners had completed their sentences over a decade ago and over two dozens, among them women, had become mentally disabled. At least three were deaf and dumb.

One of the prisoners who spent nearly 20 years in Indian jails had been sentenced only for three months, he said.

Mr Burney met Indian Home Minister Shiv Raj Patil, Foreign Affairs Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, National Human Rights Commission chairman S. Rajendra Babu, Punjab State Human Rights Commission chief R.S. Mongia, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, members of parliament, officials and community leaders.

The Ansar Burney Trust will confirm the prisoners’ Pakistani nationality and get their travel documents prepared by the Pakistan High Commission in India. The trust will appeal to the relatives of the prisoners to contact it for the purpose.

Punjab’s Chief Minister Badal promised to immediately release 49 Pakistani prisoners from the state’s jails if their nationality could be confirmed and their travel documents prepared by the Pakistani High Commission.

Over 100 prisoners to be released are in jails in other states, including Rajasthan and New Delhi.