Fresh pact eyed: Govt lethargy keeps Pakistani inmates on foreign soil

Around 2,000 Pakistanis continue to languish in jails abroad

ISLAMABAD: Despite having extradition treaties with several countries, Pakistan is reluctant to bring back those nationals who have been languishing in foreign jails for years. There are currently around 2,000 Pakistanis jailed abroad.

Britain recently offered to extradite around 300 Pakistani convicts, allowing them to serve their remaining sentence in Pakistan, officials handling their case said.

“Pakistan is in a ‘to be or not to be’ situation to receive them. First, we may go for an amendment in the existing agreement on the transfer of prisoners,” a senior official at the interior ministry told The Express Tribune.



Islamabad has not responded to London’s offer as yet, because Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar wants to first amend the transfer of prisoners agreement 2007, the official explained.

The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland have an agreement with Pakistan on the transfer of prisoners. Robert Brinkley of Britain and Kamal Shah of Pakistan signed this agreement on August 24, 2007.  Apparently British Prime Minister David Cameron has told his Pakistani counterpart that London is keen to transfer hundreds of prisoners by restoring the transfer of convicted criminals agreement, according to another official at the interior ministry.

This agreement was suspended following the release of three prisoners who were on death row after they were brought to Pakistan in the previous regime of Pakistan Peoples Party, he recalled. Under the agreement, the two countries cannot release the sentenced prisoner until they serve out their jail terms, he stated. Last year, he pointed out, Chaudhry Nisar convinced his British counterpart Theresa May to restore the agreement.

The Express Tribune, through British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, sought comments of the justice ministry, but got no response. Chaudhry Nisar and Interior Secretary Shahid Khan remained could not reached for comment. For some time now the ministry has been operating without an official spokesperson.

Like Britain, the United Arab Emirates too has offered to send back 25 convicted prisoners under the transfer of prisoners’ agreement, interior ministry’s officials said.

The interior ministry, through the foreign office of Pakistan, is trying to secure the repartiation of some 1,400 prisoners who could spend their remaining sentence in their homeland, they revealed.



More than 400 Pakistani prisoners are jailed in South Asian and Central Asian prisons, and these prisoners could be repatriated under exchange of prisoners’ agreement. Around 723 Pakistanis, including 15 women, are in jails in Gulf states, revealed officials.

Ten Pakistanis in Azerbaijan, seven in Georgia, nine in Tajikistan and six in Kazakhstan are in the same situation, they added.

“Consular access is available to all prisoners abroad and our missions are providing the services of interpreters where required,” said a senior official at the Foreign Office. Defence counsel is provided to the detainees by the host governments, said an official.

Former interior minister Rehman Malik, who had signed several such agreements, commented that if the government thinks the agreement with Britain should be amended, it should go ahead with it. “There is always room for improvement in such agreements,” he said.

Malik, who was in the process of signing agreements with Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries during his tenure, said the government should carry out these commitments to allow prisoners to complete their sentence in their home country.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.