Pakistani and Indian peace activists have urged Pakistan-India Joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners to recommend both the countries’ governments to immediately release all prisoners languishing in jails even after completing their sentences and to establish a Joint Commission for devising a mechanism to determine the countries’ maritime boundaries in a way that is visible to the fishermen.
In a letter to the judicial committee on prisoners, peace activists and civil society members from Pakistan and India have welcomed the convening of a meeting from April 19 to 23 after a gap of more than two and a half years, as both the countries have decided to take the peace process forward.
The last meeting of the committee was held in Delhi in August 2008. “We sincerely thank both the governments for releasing a number of prisoners from each other’s prisons,” the activists said in the letter signed from the Pakistani side by former law minister and attorney general of Pakistan Syed Iqbal Haider; Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) Chairman Muhammad Ali Shah; Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) President Dr AH Nayyar; Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo; Pakistan Bar Council member and former Sindh High Court Bar Association president Akhtar Hussain; senior journalist and human rights activist Syed Shamsuddin; Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Executive Director Karamat Ali and PPC Secretary General BM Kutty and from the Indian side by renowned filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt; SANGAT’s Kamla Bhasin; former Indian parliamentarian and journalist Shahid Siddiqui; Focus on the Global South associate and journalist Jatin Desai; South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) activist and lawyer Vrinda Grover and COVA Executive Director Mazhar Hussain.
The activists requested the Pakistan-India Joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners to make efforts for the release of all prisoners particularly those beyond the age of 70 years including Dr Syed Muhammad Khalil Chishti, who has been in detention in Rajasthan for the past 20 years.
In the letter, the peace activists demanded the creation of a mechanism that allows the fishermen breaching the territorial waters for the first time to be released along with their vessels with only a warning out in the sea itself.
Around 400 Indian fishing vessels and about 150 Pakistani boats are in the custody of the neighbouring countries and the owners of these trawlers are suffering heavily, as they have been deprived of their only source of income.
“We request the joint judicial committee to urge the two governments to release these fishing vessels without any delay and facilitate their delivery to their owners in the two countries,” the peace activists appealed. They said that women and juvenile prisoners, those terminally ill or suffering from serious illnesses or physical or mental disabilities, and prisoners involved in minor offences such as overstaying or visiting places not covered by the visa, deserve compassionate and humanitarian consideration.
“We request the Pakistan-India Joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners to recommend the two governments for expediting the release and repatriation of such prisoners, whether under-trial or convicts, to their respective countries,” the activists demanded.
They said it has been observed that the verification of nationality often takes around two years and even after completion of the sentence, the prisoners cannot return to their country. “We request the committee to ask the two governments to complete the nationality verification formalities within a period of three months,” they added.
The Indian and Pakistani civil society members requested the joint judicial committee that the Agreement on Consular Access be implemented in letter and spirit, and in case of death of prisoners, their bodies should be handed over to their country of origin without any delay, whereas, to clear any doubts, the post-mortem examination should be carried out by a team of doctors.
“Both the governments should be requested to facilitate the prisoners to correspond with their families,” they added.
