PESHAWAR, May 27: A group of 65 Pakistani prisoners released from Sheberghan prison in Afghanistan arrived in the provincial metropolis via Torkham on Tuesday.

Afghan deputy defence minister General Rashid Dostum had set them free from the prison on Monday morning.

The prisoners said that soon after their release from the notorious prison they were immediately shifted to Kabul and handed over to the Pakistani ambassador.

The Pakistani authorities shifted them to Central Jail, Peshawar, where they will be interrogated. A majority of them belongs to Punjab and Sindh provinces.

Provincial Home and Tribal Affairs Secretary Abdul Haleem Qasuria told Dawn that all the prisoners who had been released by the Afghan transitional government would first be debriefed.

Mr Qasuria said: “Only those will be detained who have a tainted record, while the remaining will be released.”

Many prisoners linked their association with Harkatul Mujahideen, a disbanded Jihadi organization which was active in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. However, some of them refused to disclose their affiliation.

Faisal Irfan, a teenager from Rawalpindi, when asked about treatment in Sheberghan prison, said: “One should not expect good treatment from an enemy.”

He said that he along with other associates crossed into Afghanistan before the US attack on Kabul and the forces of Northern Alliance captured them in Thakhar province.

He said that a large number of Pakistanis were to the day held in Sheberghan prison.

Officials said that most of the prisoners were suffering from tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.