Burney to visit India to secure release of Pakistani prisoners

Islamabad, Oct 18 (PTI) Leading Pakistani rights
activist Ansar Burney, who played a key role in the campaign
to commute the death sentence of Indian prisoner Sarabjit
Singh, will visit India this month to take up the problems of
Pakistanis being held in the neighbouring country's jails.

Burney will leave for India on October 25 to meet
human rights groups and senior Indian officials to discuss the
problems of prisoners. In a statement issued Saturday, Burney
said he hoped that dozens of Indian prisoners would soon be
released from Pakistani jails and reunited with their family
members.

Burney said he was also making efforts for the release
of all Indian and Pakistani fishermen being held in jails in
both countries so that they could be sent home without further
delay.

India and Pakistan arrest hundreds of fishermen every
year for crossing the maritime boundary.

Burney, a former human rights minister, stressed he
wanted to see peace on the borders instead of war and hatred.
"My efforts are to become a bridge to bring the two nations
nearer to each other," he emphasised.

The right activist said he would make efforts during
his stay in India to secure the release of all Pakistanis who
had completed their prison terms but had not been freed. There
are over 50 such prisoners in Amritsar jail alone and one of
them, Mohammad Asif, had died of medical complications on
October 11, he said.

Burney said he would meet senior Indian officials,
including the ministers for home affairs and external affairs,
and rights activists in an effort to secure the release of all
Pakistani prisoners.

Burney recently asked the Pakistan government to
commute all death sentences, including that of Sarabjit, to
life imprisonment, saying a majority of death row prisoners
had been wrongly convicted. PTI RHL
DEP