New Delhi, September 11
The day of waiting for scores of families on both sides of the border in India and Pakistan would be over tomorrow with 435 Indian and 152 Pakistani
prisoners scheduled to be handed over to the authorities of both sides after being freed from various jails where they were lodged in both the countries.
Government officials here said while the Indian
prisoners were moving towards the Indian border, the Pakistani prisoners were being moved to Wagah border in Punjab after having been released from various Indian jails. They would be handed over to the Pakistani authorities at the border.
While 33 Pakistan nationals were freed from different jails in Jammu region, six of them were
set free in Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan and were being escorted to the Indo-Pak border, official sources said.After being released yesterday from the Kotbalwal jail, Jammu, Central jail, Hiranagar and Udhampur jails, the prisoners would be escorted under high security to Punjab by the Jammu police and handed over to Pakistani officials at a function at Wagah border tomorrow.
The government officials maintained that no hardcore Pakistani involved in militancy had been released as they have court cases pending against them for involvement in such activities. The cases against the 33 prisoners who were being repatriated to Pakistan, have, however, been closed with permission of the court.
A despatch from Jaisalmer, quoting Subdivisional Magistrate Nakhatdan Bareth, said six Pakistanis, who were nabbed while trespassing the border along Rajasthan, were released from three jails in the district on Friday.
All of them were handed over to the Superintendent of Police yesterday and a special team would take them to Wagah for handing over to Pakistani authorities, he said giving their names as Noor Mohammed, Riyaz, Safi, Iliyas, Syed Gulam Hussain and Irfan.
A decision to release civilian prisoners, who had completed their terms and whose documentation were completed, by India and Pakistan had been taken at the Home-Secretary-level talks between the two countries held here on August 29-30.
In pursuance of the decision taken to release the prisoners on September 12, India announced that it would free 152 Pakistani civilians, including 51 fishermen while Pakistan would release 371 Indian fishermen and 64 other Indian civilians.
