Pak-India judicial committees make recommendations: prisoners should be given legal aid

The Judicial Committees of Pakistan and India on Prisoners has recommended that all the prisoners shall be provided legal aid at all stages of their cases by the respective government. The Indian Judicial Committee had visited Pakistan from April 18 to 22 and visited jails in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore.
The members of the committee included former Justice Mr Nagendra Rai, former Justice Mr Amarjeet Chaudhary, former Justice Mr A S Gill and former Justice Mr M A Khan from the Indian side. The judicial committee of Pakistan comprised former Justice Mr Abdul Qadeer Chaudhary, former Justice Mr Fazal Karim, former Justice Mr Nasir Aslam Zahid and former Justice Mr Mian Muhammad Ajmal.
The judicial committee's visit was worked out earlier in New Delhi during the meeting of Interior Secretaries from both the countries. Commerce Secretaries both the countries are scheduled to meet in Islamabad on April 27 and 28 under the resumed dialogue process to discuss ways and means for promoting economic and commercial co-operation.
The Committee suggested that the next visit to Indian jails by the Committee may be scheduled preferably during the second half of June 2011 subject to the confirmation of dates by both the sides through diplomatic channels at an early date.
During the visit, the Pakistani side shared the lists of Indian fishermen and civilian prisoners. Consular Access was conducted in respect of some of the fishermen and prisoners on the spot. Further it was recommended by the Committee to reconcile the figures of the prisoners and the fishermen at the earliest and to allow consular access to rest of the fishermen and prisoners in the second week of May 2011.
The Committee appreciated the release of 89 fishermen by Pakistani authorities and one Pakistani fisherman and 44 civil prisoners by Indian authorities. The Committee also appreciated the recommendations of the Home/Interior Secretary level talks held on March 28 to 29, 2011 at New Delhi to task the Coast Guard of India and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency to work on setting up a mechanism for release of inadvertent crossers (fishermen) and their boats on the same lines as the inadvertent crossers on land.
The Group will submit its report to the Home/Interior Secretaries before the next round of talks. The Committee suggested that the Nationality verification process should be facilitated and all those prisoners who have completed their sentences and whose travel documents are available should be repatriated to their respective countries at the earliest.
The Committee also recommended humane approach in dealing with the cases of fishermen, women and juvenile prisoners, prisoners terminally ill or suffering from serious illness or physical disability and mentally disabled persons.