Human rights issue: Court sets Sept 22 for hearing missing prisoners’ petition

Burney trust claims 189 Pakistani prisoners in India unaccounted for

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) allowed on Wednesday a request for early hearing of a petition seeking details of 189 Pakistani prisoners allegedly missing in India.

Headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, the division bench fixed hearing on for September 22 when it will seek comments of the foreign affairs and interior ministries.

The two nuclear-armed neighbours have a strict visa regime for each other’s citizens and have been detaining people for inadvertently crossing over, especially fishermen.



Ansar Burney Trust International, which had approached the court last month, said the Pakistan and Indian governments had on May 31, 2008, signed a bilateral agreement on consular access. Under the treaty, both the countries exchange a detailed list of prisoners lodged in each other’s prisons twice a year — on January 1 and July 1.

The petitioner said in continuation of the agreement, both the countries exchanged on January 1, 2016 their respective lists. “It has transpired that a major difference in the Indian list has been found, as the Pakistani list states that 460 prisoners are lodged in Indian jails while the Indian list confirms only 271 such prisoners, meaning that about 189 Pakistanis are missing,” states the petition.

On Wednesday, the judges were informed that the matter involves severe violations of human rights of 189 prisoners missing in Indian jails. “No serious response of the government has been advanced to resolve the mystery and find out whereabouts of the missing persons,” the trust’s representative, Shagufta Burney said.

Having received no response from the government despite repeated requests/letters, the petitioner pleaded to the court to fix the petition at an early date to pass appropriate orders.

Allowing the request, the bench fixed the matter for September 22, 2016.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2016.