KABUL, May 5: Top Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum on Sunday announced plans to free 400 more Pakistani prisoners suspected of involvement with the Taliban from the notorious Shiberghan jail in northern Afghanistan.

Following the release of about 500 prisoners from the overcrowded jail last week, deputy defence minister Dostum said the prisoners, Taliban and Al Qaeda foot soldiers, would be taken direct from the jail 120km west of the main northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif to the Pakistan border.

“The prisoners will be freed any moment. We are waiting for the arrival of a representative of (Afghan interim leader) Hamid Karzai to accompany the prisoners to the border with Pakistan,” Dostum told Reuters by telephone from his Shiberghan base.

Our correspondent from Quetta adds: Afghan interim government released on Sunday 44 more Pakistani prisoners arrested in Afghanistan.

An Afghan government official handed over these Pakistani prisoners, originally from Balochistan, to Pakistani security officials at the Chaman border, official sources confirmed.

Hundreds of JUI-F workers, students from various Madaris, established by Maulana Abdul Ghani, were there to welcome the prisoners. These men were included in the 640 Taliban prisoners who were released on Friday who arrived in Kandahar in the official vehicles of Afghan government led by a military commander Gud Fida loyal to Hamid Karzai on Sunday morning from Kabul.

“Governor Gul Agha Sherzai distributed US$ 20,000 amongst the released Afghan and Pakistani prisoners,” Abdul Rehman an official of the Afghan government in Spin Boldak.

These Afghan and Pakistani Taliban were arrested by the northern alliance forces after the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif and Jozjan in December last year. Later they were shifted to different areas of Afghanistan. They were kept in large metal containers.

All 44 prisoners belonging to Loralai, Ziarat, Pishin and Quetta were allowed to go home by the concerned authorities.

“It was a horrible time we spent in metal containers. Many Pakistani and Taliban died as no medical aid was available, Amanullah a 30-years-old Pakistani Taliban told reporters.