Islamabad: A planeload of 55 Pakistani prisoners on September 4 arrived in the North Western Peshawar city and an equal number was expected shortly after Afghanistan freed them under a bilateral agreement despite opposition from United States.

According to official media reports in Islamabad the Pakistanis were brought back home in a military plane specially flown to Kabul for the purpose and another batch of 55 prisoners were expected to be released later.

The prisoners were among an estimated 1200 Pakistanis who were caught in Afghanistan while fighting alongside al-Qaida and Taleban in 2001.

Pakistani officials who said on September 3 that Afghanistan would release 110 prisoners expressed the hope that the others too would be released shortly.

They, however, said that the repatriated prisoners would be questioned in detail before deciding on their release on a case to case to basis.

Over 100 sick and injured Pakistani prisoners were released in April 2002.

PTI