The governments of India and Pakistan should take steps for the early release of nationals of both countries who are in each other's jails and for the repatriation of prisoners who have completed their sentences,leading rights activist Ansar Burney said today. Burney,a former Minister for Human Rights,said the prisoners,including fishermen,should be freed and repatriated in the interest of human dignity. There are dozens of prisoners in Indian and Pakistani jails who completed their prison terms decades ago but are still waiting to be released,he contended. "During this period,they have lost their mental balance and became lunatics or contracted diseases like tuberculosis," he said. Burney said there were "more than 60 cases" of Pakistani prisoners in jails in the Indian state of Punjab who had completed their sentences but had not been released. "After the completion of an Indian prisoner's sentence,his or her detention or confinement in Pakistani prisons is against the constitution,law of the land and against the human rights charter of the United Nations," he said. Burney has requested the Presidents and Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan to direct their governments to release all prisoners who were in jail even after the completion of their sentences. He asked both governments to treat the prisoners as humans and not as enemies. "I have full hope that the Indian and Pakistani governments will definitely consider my request on humanitarian grounds and release all prisoners who have completed their sentences,including fishermen," he said.
