India releases 38 Pak civil prisoners, Pakistan deports 19 Indians

Wagah, June 30 (UNI) India today repatriated 38 Pakistani civilian prisoners, while Pakistan released 19 Indian detenues at this border checkpost.

The Pakistani prisoners released have all completed their sentences and their nationality has been verified by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. Likewise the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has verified the identity of the Indian prisoners.

The release of prisoners is in pursuance of the understanding reached between India and Pakistan during the recent Home Secretary-level talks.

The maximum number of Pakistani-prisoners released are from Punjab, totalling 16, followed by Jammu and Kashmir with 15. Four are from Rajasthan and one each from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

The repatriation exercise was supervised by Border Security Force (BSF) Assistant Commandant A K Badria and Major Faiz Haider of the Pakistan Rangers. Amritsar Sub-Divsional Magistrate (SDM) Gurwaryam Singh was also present.

Among the Indian prisoners released, eight are from Punjab and the rest from other states including Jammu and Kashmir. All of them were brought from the high security Kok Lakhpat jail near Lahore.

The eldest in the group who crossed over into the Indian side of the check post, was 56-year-old Harbans Lal of Kathua (Jammu) while the youngest is 23-year-old Sunny from Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.

Harbans Lal who accidentally strayed into Pakistan in the Rajouri sector in 1993 was nabbed by the Pak Rangers and convicted to 15 years imprisonment on spying charges by a Military Court.

Likewise Swarana Ram of Jammu, who too was convicted on spying charges, is returning home after spending 15 years in prison. Soorta Ram of Rajasthan spent about seven years in jail after he was apprenhended by Pakistani authorities.

All the eight residents of Punjab are those who, in search of greener pastures, paid hefty sums to unscruplous travel agents to send them to European countries. They were either dumped in Lebanon or Turkey, where they were apprenhended and put behind bars before being pushed into Iran where they were again detained.

These Punjabi youths were then pushed into Pakistan by the Iranian authorities. Like so many other youths in the past, these Punjabis were arrested by the Pakistani authorities and sentenced to undergo imprisonment from three to five years.

The Indian prisoners after being medically examined at the Amritsar Civil hospital will be sent back to their respective homes tomorrow.

UNI XC-HS PA BD1734