Indo-Pak judicial panel back on track

A day after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari signed an order releasing Indian convict Gopal Das,arrested on charges of spying and in Kot Lakhpat jail for the last 27 years.

A day after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari signed an order releasing Indian convict Gopal Das,arrested on charges of spying and in Kot Lakhpat jail for the last 27 years,prisoners of both countries languishing in jails on the other side of the border have a reason to cheer.

For,one of the first important decisions finalised at Mondays meeting of the Home Secretaries of India and Pakistan here is to revive the eight-member Indo-Pak Joint Judicial Committee JJC comprising retired Supreme Court and High Court judges of both the countries.

The commission,which was formed in January 2007 to recommend steps for the humane treatment and expeditious release of prisoners,became inactive in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

It was after the formation of the JJC that consular access was granted to over 550 Indian prisoners in Pakistan jails for the first time. This way,many Indian prisoners about whom the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had no idea came on the government radar for the first time. The same applied to Pakistani prisoners,many of who were released due to the intervention of the JJC.

It was the JJC that had first requested the Pakistan government in 2008 to release Das on humanitarian grounds. Sources told The Indian Express that the four members of the commission from India former Delhi High Court Judge M A Khan,former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judges Amarbir Singh Gill and Amarjeet Chaudhary and former Patna High Court Judge Nagendra Rai would be asked to undertake a visit to Pakistan as early as next month to re-start the stalled process. The JJC would visit jails in Pakistan where Indian prisoners are lodged and also get consular access provided to those prisoners who have completed their term.

The four members of the JJC from Pakistan Justices retd Abdul Qadeer Chaudhary,Fazal Karim,Nasir Aslam Zahid and Mian Muhammad Ajmal are also expected to visit India anytime after June.

While there is still no unanimity over the exact number of prisoners of the other country that each side holds in its jails,as per preliminary lists exchanged between the officials of two countries,India puts the number of its citizens in Pakistani jails at over 500,while the number given by Pakistani side is 450.

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The JJC had also secured a firm assurance from the Pakistani authorities that the review board before which the petition filed by condemned Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh,seeking to get his sentenced changed into life,is pending would take a very humane view while dealing with his petition.

Following a visit of the Pakistan members of the JJC to New Delhi in February 2008,both the governments had released over 150 fishermen who had strayed into each others territory.

The JJC had recommended to the two governments to repatriate prisoners involved in minor offences like violation of the Foreigners Act,border-crossing and visa violation.