By Parmod Kumar, IANS,
New Delhi : Four former Indian judges would reach Pakistan Monday ahead of visiting jails there to examine the condition of Indian civilian prisoners. They, along with a four-member Pakistani team, would also recommend the release of prisoners, a team member said.
The Indian team, including senior apex court counsel and former chief justice of Patna High Court Nagendra Rai, would go to Pakistan’s central jails in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore during its five-day visit.
Besides Justice Nagendra Rai other former judges in the team are Justice Amarjeet Choudhary, Justice A.S. Gill and Justice M.A. Khan.
The Indian team is a part of the eight-member Indo-Pakistan Joint Judicial Committee for the release of civilian prisoners. The committee was formed in January 2007.
The four Pakistani members of the panel are Justice Abdul Qadeer Chaudhary, Justice Fazal Karim, Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal.
According to sources, both India and Pakistan are yet to fulfill their earlier commitment to release prisoners who have completed their sentences. By April, India released 39 and Pakistan 89 prisoners while they agreed to release much more prisoners.
Speaking on the eve of the Indian team’s departure, Justice Rai said that the committee was set up following an agreement between the Indian and the Pakistani governments.
He said the first visit of the team took place in 2008. Subsequently, there was a visit by Pakistani members to Indian jails in 2009.
During the visit to Pakistani jails, the Indian team would look into the cases where the prisoners’ condition demands immediate release. The team would also look into prison records to ascertain the facts of each case.
The focus would be on cases involving prisoners who are invalid, old, children or women, said Justice Rai.
He said all the decisions would be taken “with the consent of all the eight” committee members.
“The irritants in the relations between the two countries never come into play in the work of the joint judicial committee,” said Justice Rai.
“We are (former) judges and have a habit of looking at any problem from the point of view of justice that involves upholding the human rights and looking at things with compassion,” said Justice Rai.
He recalled a case of an Indian prisoner in Pakistan whose body was to be sent back. “On our (India-Pakistani panel’s) intervention it was sent to India in two days,” he said.
In another case, two Pakistani nationals were found to be languishing in a jail in that country along with Indian fishermen. The authorities believed that both of them were Indians. They were released on our intervention, he said.
Justice Rai said that he wanted to take up the case for the release of Pakistani Mohammad Khalil Chisti, an octogenarian languishing in a jail in Rajasthan’s Ajmer town for 19 years after he was convicted for murder.
He killed a man in a group clash near the Dargah of Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer in 1992.