KARACHI, July 24: All district attorneys in the province have been asked to furnish lists of prisoners held for petty offences to a committee appointed by the provincial home minister.

The committee, which comprises special home secretary Nasser Jamali, Additional Advocate-General Dr Qazi Khalid Ali and the inspector-general of prisons, decided that the cases of detainees held for minor offences or vagrancy or under the preventive detention provisions on suspicion, should be reviewed so that the prisoners no longer required could be released.

The committee was informed on Friday that over 200 prisoners were being held in the Central Prison, Karachi, on various minor offences. It decided to seek reports from the district attorneys of Karachi and of the province on the charges the prisoners faced.

The release would be considered on a case-to-case basis in the light of reports submitted by the district attorneys.