A division bench was hearing a petition filed by a Social organization which submitted that as many as 17 Pakistanis were still behind the bars for several years in India despite they had served their respective terms.
The petitioner informed the court that as per interior ministry confirmation in 2015, Nasir Mahmood son of Sakhi Muhammad, Muhammad Rafiq son of Muhammad Nawaz Sial and Nazir Ahmed son of Haji Lal Khan were still in India.
“Muhammad Yousuf Khawaja son of Muhammad Ayub, Muhammad Usama son of Muhammad Shafi Attar, Abdul Malik son of Muhammad Ajmal and Muhammad Saeed Sabir son of Hafiz Abdul Majid was confirmed in 2006,” the social organization reminded.
Besides, the list said the national status of prisoners Waseem Noor son of Noor Muhammad, Muhammad Abdullah son of Muhammad Zareen, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal son of Muhammad Yousuf, Ghulam Farid son of Muhammad Shafi, Abdul Majid son of Muhammad Qasim, Tasneem Azeem son of Raeed Azeem, Sikandar-e-Azam Sani, Khalid Mehmood son of Muhammad Ayub and Abdul Matin son of Haji Muhammad Yaqub was confirmed by the in 2010.
The petitioner had also placed on record a letter of the foreign ministry to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi containing the list of 17 Pakistani prisoners with the dates of confirmation of their national status by the interior ministry.
According to the letter, Pakistan’s mission at New Delhi was requested to take up the matter with the Indian government for an early release of the Pakistani prisoners as well as all those who had completed their sentences.
The foreign ministry letter to the Pakistan mission in New Delhi said these Pakistani prisoners had reportedly completed their sentences.
The court was requested to direct the federal government to take measures for Pakistanis prisoners’ repatriation from India at the earliest.