Govt has suspended prisoner exchange agreements with all nations: Nisar

Move comes after discovery that prisoners repatriated from Britain were set free by corrupt officials

ISLAMABAD: The government has suspended all prisoner exchange agreements with other countries after it discovered that prisoners repatriated from Britain were set free by corrupt officials without completing their sentences, the interior minister said on Monday.

Authorities have arrested an interior ministry official and a police officer after investigating a complaint by British authorities, that three convicts sent to Pakistan in 2010 to serve out their prison terms ranging from 18 to 25 years for drug trafficking and murder were released within two months.

"We investigated and found out that two prisoners were set free in two months and the third one spent just one day in jail," Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar  told a parliamentary committee.

He said one of the convicts had fled to Dubai while another went to Malaysia and from there to Ecuador, but both had since been arrested and were being repatriated to Pakistan. The third had been arrested in Pakistan.

Nisar said that during their own investigations Pakistani authorities found a fourth prisoner who had similarly evaded a sentence two and half years ago and had since rearrested him.

"We have suspended implementation of all prisoner exchange agreements with various countries till formulation of a transparent policy," Nisar said.

The identities of the convicts were not revealed.

"We will show the world that Pakistan is a responsible country and we will not spare anybody involved in corruption," he added.

The officials who were involved in the illegal release of prisoners had been in prison for the past nine months, he added.

It was unclear why the scandal had not come to light previously.

Terrorists are now attacking 'soft targets' in utter desperation

Interior Ministry Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Monday that terrorists are now attacking soft targets including mosques, churches and schools in utter desperation.

"Space has shrunk for terrorist. Therefore, they have resorted to attacking soft targets, like schools, imambargah, churches," the interior minister said as he briefed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior in Islamabad.

He said the noose has been tightened around the terrorists to make country abode of peace.

Nisar said the overall law and order situation has improved to a large extent as a result of government's effective counter-terrorism policy. He, however asked the nation to stand firm to take the war on terror to its logical conclusion.

"The war on terror is not an easy task to tackle. Sole objective of terrorism is to divide the nation therefore we must stand united."

Deploring the terrorist attack on Churches in Lahore as an inhumane act, the interior minister said those who perpetrated the act do not belong to any religion.

"No religion of the world allows such acts," he added.

Nisar said those who took the law into their hands in the wake of the Lahore incident had supported the agenda of terrorists who want to cause frustration in the society.

Speaking about his ministry, he said several important files were missing.

"I have been to get the trying to get the records digitised for the last eight months," he added. "I have asked the minister for information technology and National Database and Registration Authority to work this regard."

With regards to Karachi operation, he said the government has no intentions to push any political party against the wall.

"It was unanimously decided that the operation will be carried out against anyone regardless of his political affiliation," he added.

Nisar said reservations of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) against the operation will also be addressed soon.

The interior minister also briefed the committee about the performance of the ministry.

He also said that at least 62 corrupt officers of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have been terminated to make sure that there are efficient security officials in the country.

Criticising the interior minister, Member of MQM Asif Hussain said no recruitment was made on merit basis in 2014.



US releases 43 Pakistani detainees from Bagram jail

The United States has released 43 Pakistani detainees from the Bagram Jail in Afghanistan after a majority of its armed force left Kabul earlier this year.

“The National Counter Terrorism Authority coordinated the release of 43 Pakistanis from Bagram Jail in Afghanistan, whose fate would have been uncertain after the US authorities leave Bagram,” Nisar informed the Committee.

Pakistani human rights activists have been protesting that these detainees, mostly Pakistanis either at Guantánamo Bay or Bagram, had no access to lawyers and judges, and minimal ability to contest their detention cases. Despite their protests, they added, Washington never made their detention public.

A case is also being contested in the Lahore High Court seeking government action to secure the release and repatriation of Pakistani detainees in Bagram.

The top counter-terrorism body has also devised a strategy to ensure the security of foreigners, particularly Chinese nationals working on various projects in the country, the interior minister added.