June 15, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 14: The Pakistan-India Judicial Committee on Prisoners has called for immediate repatriation of sick and mentally disabled prisoners on humanitarian grounds.

A joint statement issued here on Saturday also suggested repatriation of women, under-aged convicts and under-trial prisoners and urged the two countries to commute their sentences or withdraw charges against them.

“Prisoners involved in minor offences like violation of Foreigners Act, border-crossings and visa violations also deserve compassionate and humanitarian consideration,” the statement said, adding that prisoners who had completed their sentences and whose nationality status had been confirmed should be repatriated immediately.

The committee, comprising retired judges from Pakistan and India, was formed in 2007. The committee held its first meeting in February this year.

The committee, whose recommendations were overshadowed by deaths of two more Pakistanis in Indian jails, also recommended measures for streamlining the procedure for handling cases of deaths in custody. It urged authorities in both countries to quickly inform the respective high commissions, provide copies of post-mortem reports and early repatriation of dead bodies.

The committee asked Indian authorities to arrange a visit of Pakistani members from July 20-27 to Indian jails for meeting Pakistani prisoners.

Terming the lists exchanged by the two countries on March 31 incomplete and inaccurate, the committee asked both countries to exchange “fresh and complete lists … without omissions” by July 1.

It noted that the previous lists did not individually identify the prisoners or their details.

The committee welcomed the agreement between the two countries on granting consular access to prisoners, saying it would help in improving treatment of detained or imprisoned people.

The joint statement urged both countries to provide consular access to detainees within a month of their arrest and confirm their nationalities immediately and simplifying the process so that their release was not delayed. The committee stressed that the backlog of such cases in both countries should be cleared by July 31.

The committee recommended that the benefit of remission in sentence should also be extended to prisoners convicted under any special law or military law and asked the two governments to amend the rules.