PESHAWAR, May 13: The NWFP government has expressed its inability to look after hundreds of Pakistani prisoners released from Afghan prisons and asked the federal government to shift them to their respective provinces.

Sources in provincial Home and Tribal Affairs Department told Dawn here on Monday that the provincial government had sent a letter to the federal interior ministry, requesting to direct Punjab and Sindh governments to repatriate their prisoners from the NWFP. “The Home Department is awaiting the interior ministry’s response in this regard,” the official said, adding that the provincial government could not look after such a large number of prisoners due to lack of accommodation facilities.

About 250 Pakistani prisoners set free by the Afghan interim government from various jails in northern Afghanistan were airlifted in three C-130 flights from Mazar-i-Sharif to Peshawar on 11th and lodged them in Peshawar and Haripur prisons.

Many of the prisoners belong to Sindh and Punjab. The sources said the crimes branch police was preparing lists of prisoners to be handed over to the respective provincial governments.

According to the Home Department officials the NWFP government had decided in principle to release 29 prisoners who were brought back from Kabul on April 25. One of those prisoners, Abdul Aziz died in prison, whereas remaining prisoners had been shifted to Haripur prison.

It is learnt that the government has also directed the district coordination officers (DCOs) of different districts to shift the prisoners of their respective districts from Haripur. The government has directed the district governments to release those prisoners later on after they furnish surety bonds that in future they would not indulge in similar activities.

Moreover, the government has directed that even after their release they should be kept under surveillance.