Sunday, September 11 2005 15:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Ahead of the scheduled release tomorrow (Sept 12, 2005) of 152 Pakistanis, who have served their sentences, scores of them were released from various Indian jails and were being taken to Wagah border in Punjab, where they would be handed over to the authorities of the neighboring country.

While 33 Pak nationals were freed from different jails in Jammu region, six of them were set free in Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan and were being escorted to the Indo-Pak border, official sources said.

Of the 33 Pakistanis who will walk to freedom, four are deaf and mute, five physically handicapped, six minors and one of them is a woman, officials in Jammu said.

After being released yesterday from the Kotbalwal jail Jammu Central jail, Hiranagar and Udhampur jails, they would be escorted under high security to Punjab by Jammu Police and handed over to Pakistani officials at a function at Wagah border tomorrow, they said.

"No hard core Pakistani involved in militancy has been released as they have court cases pending against them for involvement in such activities", they said adding that the cases of the 33 prisoners, who are being repatriated to Pakistan, have been closed with permission of the court.

A dispatch from Jaisalmer, quoting Sub-divisional magistrate Nakhatdan Bareth, said six Pakistanis, who were nabbed while trespassing the border along Rajasthan, were released from three jails in the district on Friday.

All of them were handed over to the Superintendent of Police yesterday (Sept 10, 2005) and a special team would take them to Wagah for handing over to Pakistani authorities, he said giving their names as Noor Mohammed, Riyaz, Safi, Iliyas, Syed Gulam Hussain, and Irfan.

Officials in Jammu attributed the release, the highest so far in one go from the state, to the current bonhomie between the two countries.

About 18 Pakistanis who intruded into Indian Territory during the lat six months period were arrested along the Indo-Pak border but returned to Pakistani authorities the next day by Army and Border Security Force (BSF) authorities after thorough interrogation, the officials said.

Earlier those who were found guilty of border crossing were slapped with two to three year jail terms, they said.

While the deaf and mute Pakistanis, released from Jammu, were identified as Nazir Ahmed and Naba of Dirgah Sharief, Arif and Showkat, the disabled were identified as Murtaza of Gujranwala town, Sajad of Tota-Abbaspora, Abid Ali, Ali Raza and Mohmmad Aslan of Shakergarh.

The minors were identified as Khalid of Sialkote, Nomi Ali, Mohmmad Youqoob Aslam, Karoo and Maig Mohmmad all below the age of 14, they said adding that all the prisoners had served their sentences that varied from two to five years.

A decision to release civilian prisoners, who had completed their terms and whose documentation were completed,by India and Pakistan had been taken at the Home-Secretary level talks between the two countries held here on August 29-30.

In pursuance of the decision taken to release the prisoners on September 12, India announced that it would free 152 Pakistani civilians, including 51 fishermen while Pakistan would release 371 Indian fishermen and 64 other Indian civilians.