Pak has responded positively on mechanism to oversee speedy release of prisoners: Govt

Pakistan has "responded positively" to Indian proposals on revival of a judicial committee mechanism to oversee the speedy release of their nationals held in each other's jails, the government said today.

In a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, V K Singh, Minister of State in the External Affairs Ministry, said the MEA in October 2017 had suggested to the High Commissioner of Pakistan that the two sides could work together to resolve humanitarian issues related to the elderly, women and mentally unsound prisoners in each other's custody and consider their early release and repatriation.

It was also proposed that a team of medical experts could be allowed to visit mentally unsound prisoners with a view to facilitate their nationality verification and subsequent repatriation.

"The MEA also suggested revival of the Joint Judicial Committee which looked into the issues of fishermen and prisoners in each other's custody and had last met in October 2013. The Government of Pakistan on March 7 responded positively to the suggestion," he said.

In a separate question, Singh said there are 150 extradition requests pending with various foreign countries and the MEA has recently received 16 more requests from different law enforcement agencies