Six Pakistani detainess repatriated

Wagah, May 17 (UNI) Six Pakistani detainees, including four minor boys, were today repatriated to their country through this joint border check post.

Border Security Force (BSF) Assistant Commandant Bhupinder Singh Rana handed over the detainess to his counterpart Maj Faiz Ahmed, of the Pakistan Rangers at the zero line.

The detainess included thirteen year old Mithu Masih and his cousin Armaan Masih, both of whom were nabbed by the BSF in November last year when they had strayed into Indian territory in the Ajnala sector. Both of them were playing hide-and-seek close to the border when they crossed the zero line.

The other two boys were Khuras Nawaz (14) and Shaukat Ali (11) who were arrested in September last year at the Attari railway station. They had intended to board a train for Multan from Lahore but instead boarded the Samjautha Express and landed at Attari where they were taken into custody by the railway police.

The four boys had been under detention at the Juvenile Home at Faridkot. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had a couple of months back, on a PIL, ordered the repatriation of all Pakistani detainees who had completed their jail terms in prisons in Punjab.

The PIL filed in the Court by a Chandigarh based lawyer had made particular mention of these four boys.

The two other detainess who were repatriated were 45-year old Mohammed Rashid and Mohammed Rashid (50) who were brought here from Jammu central jail. They were arrested in the Rajouri sector in Jammu and Kashmir and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Both of them had completed jail sentences.

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