Indian prisoner: Interior Ministry given till March 16

LAHORE: Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik of the Lahore High Court on Monday asked the Interior Ministry to file its reply by March 16 on a petition seeking the release of an Indian prisoner still in a Pakistani jail despite finishing his term, or the court would decide the case without it.

Justice Malik deferred the hearing after the ministry again failed to file a reply on Monday. “Further delay will not be allowed,” he told a law officer representing the ministry. “Is there a law that allows you to keep prisoners in jail even after the awarded sentence is completed?” The judge was hearing a petition filed by Advocate Awais Sheikh seeking Indian prisoner Surjit Singh alias Makhan Singh’s inclusion in a list of foreign prisoners still in Pakistani jails despite term completion. On Thursday, the Kot Lakhpat jail SP submitted that Singh’s jail term had ended a year ago, but he was awaiting directions from the GHQ, Rawalpindi, and the Presidency as to his release.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2012.