August 24, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 21, 1429

NEW DELHI, Aug 23: Indian and Pakistani prisoners languishing in each other’s jails by oversight or absence of travel documents should be sent home by the end of September, a bilateral judicial panel recommended here on Saturday.

The eight-member committee visited jails in Amritsar, Delhi and Jaipur between August 18-23 and suggested that the two governments ask the respective courts to expeditiously dispose of cases of all their under-trials. There is a dispute though about the figures.

India acknowledges there are 378 Pakistani prisoners lodged in its jails across the country. The figure is disputed by Islamabad, which claims that 644 of its nationals are imprisoned in India.

On its part, India claims 687 Indian prisoners, including 412 fishermen, as languishing in various jails in Pakistan, which acknowledges just 470 inmates, including 412 fishermen.

During the current visit, 131 Pakistani prisoners were produced before the panel. Its members, comprising four retired judges from each country, made a strong pitch for the early release of women, juvenile prisoners, inmates who are terminally ill, suffering from serious illness or disability, mentally disabled persons and those involved in minor offences like violation of the Foreigners Act, border crossing, and visa violation like overstaying or visiting places not covered by the visa.

They also demanded immediate consular access, not later than September 30, to all prisoners who have not been granted the facility.

The members of the committee are Justice (retd) Abdul Qadeer Chaudhry, Justice (retd) Fazal Karim, Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid and Justice (retd) Mian Muhammad Ajmal from the Pakistan side and Justice (retd) Nagendra Rai, Justice (retd) Amarjeet Choudhary, Justice (retd) A.S. Gill and Justice (retd) M.A. Khan from the Indian side.

They recommended that the agreed category of prisoners, whether under trial or convicts, be repatriated to the country of their origin at the earliest and, for that purpose, necessary action be taken for withdrawal of prosecution or for remission of the balance sentence as the case may require, be implemented by the governments.

The panel reiterated its recommendation for supply of copy of the post-mortem report to the respective high commission in the event of the death of a prisoner in custody.

Both the governments should facilitate the prisoners to correspond with their families.

According to a joint statement, the panel strongly recommended that the home/interior secretaries of the two countries should meet at the earliest to press for the implementation of its recommendations.