A visit by the Joint Judicial Committee (JJC), to Amritsar Jail has revealed the disturbing fact that the tally of the prisoners held by the two countries doesn't match and there is a discrepancy of as many as twenty Pakistani prisoners in the respective records held by the two countries concerning the Pakistani prisoners incarcerated at Amritsar Jail alone.
As per the Pakistani records there are 76 Pakistani prisoners in Amritsar Jail out of which 46 have completed their sentences and are awaiting release pending resolution of procedural lacunae. However, the visiting JJC delegation was provided access to only 56 Pakistani prisoners out of which 21 had completed the period of their imprisonment.
Upon inquiries by the delegation regarding the 20 unaccounted for prisoners, Amritsar jail authorities informed that the prisoners had been shifted to Gurdaspur Jail and couldn't be produced before the delegation. Since the scheduled visit of the JJC delegation didn't include Gurdaspur, the prisoners couldn't be accessed and the mandate of the delegation remained inconclusive.
There are 644 Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails mostly for committing minor offences such as overstaying visas, visiting cities not specifically covered by visas and inadvertent border crossings etc. The JJC comprising four retired judges each from the High Courts and Supreme Courts of India and Pakistan has been formed to locate the prisoners languishing in jails of the two countries on account of procedural red tape and facilitate their expeditious return.
The JJC recently visited Amritsar, Delhi and Jaipur jails to locate Pakistani prisoners. During the visit the Pakistani members of the JJC delegation expressed concern that Indian jail authorities were reluctant to produce the entire contingent of Pakistani prisoners held in their jails. The committee urged both the countries to release those prisoners by 30 September who had valid travel documents and had completed their respective sentences.
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