Pakistan, UK sign treaty on repatriation of prisoners

By Staff
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Islamabad, Aug 25 (UNI) Pakistan and the United Kingdom have inked a treaty on repatriating their nationals serving prison terms in each other's prisons.

Prisoners involved in any minor or major offence will be sent to their home country to complete their terms, Dawn newspaper quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema as saying.

Now, the UK nationals who have been awarded death sentence in Pakistan would get relief as there is no capital punishment in UK and the maximum punishment there is life imprisonment.

The provisions of the treaty were agreed upon by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his British counterpart Tony Blair in November 2006.

Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah and British High Commissioner to Pakistan Robert Brinkley signed the treaty, in the presence of Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpad.

Under the agreement, the two countries will encourage social rehabilitation of the inmates by giving them the opportunity to complete their sentences in their own countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sherpad said there were 423 male and five female Pakistani prisoners in UK while only seven British nationals were serving sentences in Pakistan.

The charges against these prisoners range from violence against a person to burglary, theft and drug offences.

We also have a joint working group and its next meeting will be held in the last week of next month in London to discuss issues of bilateral interest, he said.

Mr Brinkley said the agreement would allow the Pakistani nationals to come to their homeland and serve the remaining part of the sentence. In Pakistan, they would have an opportunity to meet their families, he added.

He said seeking consent of a prisoner was essential before transferring him to his country.

Regarding an extradition treaty, the UK ambassador said negotiations were in progress and it would be signed after due consideration. He, however, said there were some constitutional and legal problems in signing that treaty. He said the two countries were facing the threat of terrorism but they were determined to fight it.

UNI

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