India repatriates 3 Pakistani prisoners after completion of jail terms

India on Saturday repatriated three Pakistani prisoners through the Attari-Wagah border transit point after they completed their jail terms.

New Delhi: India on Saturday repatriated three Pakistani prisoners through the Attari-Wagah border transit point after they completed their jail terms. The prisoners are Sameera Abdul Rehman, Murtaza Asghar Ali and Ahmed Raja, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"Three Pakistani prisoners, who had completed their sentences, were repatriated to Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border on March 26," the MEA said. It said Sameera Abdul Rehman was accompanied by her four-year-old girl child Sana Fatima. The MEA also said India attaches highest importance to addressing all humanitarian matters, including early release and repatriation of all Indian prisoners and fishermen from Pakistan.

"The government's persistent efforts have succeeded in release and repatriation of 20 Indian fishermen and one civilian prisoner from Pakistan's custody in 2022, so far," the MEA said in a statement. An official at the Attari border said that in 2017 the Pakistani woman was arrested along with her husband Mohammad Shihab of Palakkad in Kerala. She had met him in Qatar.

Shihab brought her to India without a visa in September 2016 via the Nepal border. She was arrested in May 2017 and was subsequently sentenced to three-year imprisonment. She was lodged in a Bangalore jail. The official said her husband was released from jail on bail and thereafter he went missing.

Before crossing over to Pakistan, Sameera said, "I am extremely happy as I am finally going back to Pakistan along with my daughter born in India...the Indian authorities...treated me and my daughter well in jail." "I am also thankful to Indian officials and the Home Ministry which helped me enormously to procure all relevant travel documents to cross over to Pakistan with my daughter," she said.

PTI