Pak prisoners want to stay back in India

These prisoners, which include 17 women and nine children, belong to the Gowhar Shahi sect and most of them have been in prison for the past three to four years.

On Wednesday, interacting with the members of the Indo-Pak Joint Judicial Committee (JJC) — an eight-member committee comprising retired Supreme Court and High Court judges of India and Pakistan which is working towards a humane treatment and expeditious release of prisoners belonging to the two countries — the prisoners said they did not wish to return to Pakistan.

It has been learnt that some of these prisoners told the Pakistani members of the JJC that they would prefer to remain confined to an Indian jail rather than go back to Pakistan where, they claimed, they face the possibility of being killed or tortured at the hands of mullahs or the Government. They also informed the JJC that their petition for grant of asylum is pending in the court here.

Four retired Judges of India — former Delhi High Court Judge MA Khan, former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judges Amarbir Singh Gill and Amarjeet Chaudhary and former Patna High Court Judge Nagendra Rai — are also touring the jails with their Pakistani counterparts.

Said Justice Amarbir Singh Gill (retd), “None of us was prepared for this. The Pakistani members of the JJC tried to allay the fears of the prisoners who are refusing to go back. But they said, they are ready to spend rest of their life in jails here.”

The JJC on Thursday visited the Jaipur Central Jail and found three prisoners who are still in jail despite their terms being over.

Officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs told the JJC that since most prisoners have no documents to establish their identity, authorities in Pakistan refused to accept them.