[Reader-list] Fwd: 21 August 'Partition: The Long Shadow' Closing Cultural Programme

[Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्]

Morning after the wonderful show yesterday, the Partition dastaan continues...
shivam



Pak prisoners want to stay back in India
Maneesh Chhibber
Posted online: Friday, August 22, 2008 at 2337 hrs Print Email
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/351742.html

New Delhi, August 21: Fearing persecution in their country, over 60
Pakistani citizens, who are lodged in the Capital's Tihar Jail for
entering India without proper documents, have sought asylum from the
Indian Government.

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These prisoners, which include 17 women and nine children, belong to
the Gowhar Shahi sect and most of them have been in prison for the
past three to four years.

On Wednesday, interacting with the members of the Indo-Pak Joint
Judicial Committee (JJC) — an eight-member committee comprising
retired Supreme Court and High Court judges of India and Pakistan
which is working towards a humane treatment and expeditious release of
prisoners belonging to the two countries — the prisoners said they did
not wish to return to Pakistan.

It has been learnt that some of these prisoners told the Pakistani
members of the JJC that they would prefer to remain confined to an
Indian jail rather than go back to Pakistan where, they claimed, they
face the possibility of being killed or tortured at the hands of
mullahs or the Government. They also informed the JJC that their
petition for grant of asylum is pending in the court here.

The four members of the JJC from Pakistan—Nasir Aslam Zahid, Fazl
Karim, Mian Mohamed Ajmal and Chaudhary Abdul Qadeer—are currently
touring jails in India to locate Pakistani citizens, hoping to get
those languishing in jails despite their prison terms having ended.

Four retired Judges of India — former Delhi High Court Judge MA Khan,
former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judges Amarbir Singh Gill and
Amarjeet Chaudhary and former Patna High Court Judge Nagendra Rai —
are also touring the jails with their Pakistani counterparts.

Said Justice Amarbir Singh Gill (retd), "None of us was prepared for
this. The Pakistani members of the JJC tried to allay the fears of the
prisoners who are refusing to go back. But they said, they are ready
to spend rest of their life in jails here."

The JJC on Thursday visited the Jaipur Central Jail and found three
prisoners who are still in jail despite their terms being over.

Officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs told the JJC that since most
prisoners have no documents to establish their identity, authorities
in Pakistan refused to accept them.



On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 3:41 PM, mahmood farooqui
<mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: zubaanbooks.com <contact at zubaanbooks.com>
> Date: 2008/8/14
> Subject: 21 August 'Partition: The Long Shadow' Closing Cultural Programme
> To: "mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com" <mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com>
>
>
> *The Heinrich Boll Foundation, India Habitat Centre, Max Mueller Bhavan and
> Zubaan are pleased to invite you to an evening of song, poetry and
> performance--the closing event of the year-long series, Partition: The Long
> Shadow
>
> Thursday, 21 August 2008
> 7.00 pm
> Stein Auditorium
> India Habitat Centre