The Federal Cabinet will allow Ministry of Interior to start negotiations with Jordan and Bulgaria on agreements for repatriation of convicted persons, official sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday. The Cabinet is scheduled to meet on Wednesday in Lahore with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair.
The sources said several Pakistanis were in jails in the two countries due to different crimes and they were not accessible to their loved ones. "If Pakistan signs offenders' transfer agreement with both the countries, Pakistanis in the jails of those countries will be brought back to complete their sentences," the sources added. The Cabinet, in its meeting on August 1, 2007, directed the Ministry of Interior to enter into agreements on transfer of offenders with maximum number of countries.
The sources said the Ministry of Interior forwarded the draft agreement on transfer of offenders to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for onward transmission to Pakistan's missions abroad for coinsurance of the concerned countries. In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received counter draft agreements from Jordan and Bulgaria.
"The agreements on transfer of sentenced persons in Jordan and Bulgaria is aimed at providing an opportunity to the convicted prisoners detained in prisons of both the countries to serve remaining period in their respective countries, which is also in line with the transfer of offenders Ordinance 2002," the sources added.
Since Jordanian and Bulgarian authorities have furnished counter draft on agreement transfer of sentenced prisoners, both the drafts were required to be negotiated with the concerned countries, the sources said. In terms of Rule 16(1) (h) of the Rules of Business, 1973, proposals involving treaties and agreement with foreign countries were required to be submitted to the Cabinet for approval, the sources further added. The sources said the Federal Cabinet had already allowed the Interior Ministry to finalise a similar agreement with Iran.