Worthy proposals

In past years, the red-tapism in Pakistan and India held up the release of fishermen prisoners for months or years.

The India-Pakistan Judicial Committee, comprising four retired judges from each country, has recommended that prisoners who have completed their sentence should be sent to their home countries without delay. It has also said that the tedious process of determining nationality — a factor that often keeps people from either country in jail for a very long period of time even after sentences are over, should be quickened. This will, of course, come as extremely welcome news to the fishermen, other inadvertent border-crossers and prisoners currently behind bars in either country. Often, the circumstances of their arrest are not clear, they are given long sentences for no good reason and even when released are unable to return to their home country, either due to lack of travel documents or lack of money.

Being held abroad, with no access to family for years and often in a hostile environment, can only add to the punishment endured by these individuals — some of whom are guilty of no crime other than misjudging where the border lies. In past years, the red-tapism for which Pakistan and India are well-known has held up their release for months or years. In some cases, only intervention by human rights agencies has enabled them to return and their plight to be taken note of.

The recommendations of the committee are to be welcomed. There is no need for so much human suffering. The visit by the committee to jails in all major cities and the provision of consular access to some in need of advice also indicates how much there is to gain at the human level by improving relations between India and Pakistan. Many gains can be made, as has happened in the case of the prisoners. We now also need formal mechanisms to deal with cases of juveniles and those guilty only of petty crimes. The progress made is encouraging. Let us hope it can be built upon to make things even better in the future and end the unnecessary suffering inflicted on various categories of people as a result of the strained ties between the two nations which share a great deal in common.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2011.