Banged up abroad: Prisoners may serve sentences on home soil
Pakistani citizens incarcerated abroad will be able to return home if the government ratified prisoner convention.
Pakistani citizens incarcerated abroad will be able to return home if the government ratified prisoner convention. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
A large number of Pakistanis have moved abroad seeking greener pastures but a handful of Pakistani expatriates, most of them in the US, Middle East and Europe, have a fate no one would want to share.
More than some 550 prisoners are currently languishing in the US jails and will be handed over to authorities in Islamabad if Pakistan chose to be a signatory.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2013.
A large number of Pakistanis have moved abroad seeking greener pastures but a handful of Pakistani expatriates, most of them in the US, Middle East and Europe, have a fate no one would want to share.
Pakistani citizens incarcerated in various countries across the globe, especially in the US and Europe, will be able to return home if the government ratified the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.
This convention, signed and ratified by 64 countries, allows foreign prisoners to serve out their sentence in their home countries. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had recommended signing of the convention for repatriation of Pakistanis to their homeland.
More than some 550 prisoners are currently languishing in the US jails and will be handed over to authorities in Islamabad if Pakistan chose to be a signatory.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2013.