PESHAWAR, Dec 29: Six Nepalese, who had been arrested in tribal areas, were released from the Peshawar Central Jail on Monday after completion of their jail term.

They will be deported from the Peshawar airport on Tuesday after arranging their tickets and travel documents.

Five of them juveniles, the Nepalese, who had apparently been cheated by a group of human smugglers, had been arrested by the authorities in Landi Kotal, Khyber Agency, on July 7 when they were illegally crossing into Afghanistan at the Torkham border.

The assistant political agent of Landi Kotal had charged the detainees under sections 3 and 14 of the Foreigners Act and section 11/40 of the Frontier Crimes Regulation and sent them to the Peshawar jail.

The arrested foreigners had moved the Peshawar High Court under section 40 of the FCR, stating that their detention was illegal and unconstitutional and they should be released. They had maintained that they had been arrested without commission of any offence and that detention of foreigners under the FCR was illegal.

A Peshawar High Court division bench headed by Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan a month ago had summoned the assistant political agent, who said the Nepalese had been detained under section 14 of the Foreigners Act. He claimed that no foreigner could enter the tribal area without permission of the government.

A representative of the Voice of Prisoners, Nasrun Minallah, and Imaduddin of the Dost Welfare Foundation had appeared for the petitioners and contended that foreigners could not be detained under the FCR.

On directives of the court, the assistant political agent had withdrawn the FCR charges against the Nepalese.

The court had also directed the assistant political agent to decide the case within 10 days. Following the court order, the assistant political agent decided the case awarding the Nepalese four months in prison, under the Foreigners Act.