A team of investigators will soon visit a notorious US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to ascertain the exact number of Pakistani detainees, charges against them and to spearhead efforts for their early release, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said.
Briefing the Senate Functional Committee at a meeting here on Monday, Shah said a similar team would also be sent to Afghanistan to negotiate with authorities how to get released hundreds of Pakistanis languishing in Afghan jails since the ouster of Taliban regime back in 2001.
Presided over by its Chairman senator S M Zafar of ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), the committee suggested parliamentarians should also be made part of these teams.
The committee demanded that the prison at Guantanamo Bay and other such detention cells be wound up as detainees had suffered a long period of isolation and deprivation without charges and trial.
It also demanded that their rights under Geneva Convention should be respected and they must be provided the facilities of legal counsels and regular contact with their family members.
The panel adopted a unanimous resolution to welcome the decision of the US Supreme Court that the trial of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay by military tribunal established by Bush administration was invalid and against Geneva Convention.
The panel directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to expedite their efforts to get relevant information in Aamir Cheema's death case form the German authorities.
The committee gave this directive while having a briefing on the mysterious death of Amir Cheema, a Pakistani student died in police custody in Germany some three months back.
Director General Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the committee that German Foreign Office was co-operating with Pakistan in seeking the response to the FIA questionnaire. He expressed the hope Pakistan would be able to get replies to the questions and assured to properly pursue the matter with the German authorities both in Islamabad and Berlin.
Tariq Khosa, the head of the probe team in Amir Cheema's case, informed the committee that the Ministry of Interior was trying to get replies to the queries.
He said that ten more questions had also been added to the questionnaire that would be helpful in drawing conclusion and making the proceedings more transparent.
The committee directed the Ministry of Interior to submit a detailed report on the issue as soon as it got answers to the questionnaire.
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