ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will make a formal request to the United States and all concerned quarters next month, indicating its willingness to sign the Council of Europe Convention on the transfer of prisoners, interior ministry officials said.
“Pakistan will write to Washington and others next month,” a senior official of the ministry said while quoting Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as telling US Mission Deputy Chief in Pakistan Richard Hoagland, who held an urgent meeting yesterday.
“The prime minister has formally approved the proposed draft seeking signing of Council of Europe Convention for exchange of sentenced prisoners,” Nisar told Hoagland, according to sources.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the interior minister in his cabinet meeting on Wednesday to pursue the matter vigorously. The federal cabinet gave a go-ahead to the interior and foreign ministries to finalise a prisoner swap deal with the US and 63 other sigNatories of the Council of Europe Convention.
After attaining accession of the said convention, Pakistan will request Washington for early repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and other prisoners languishing in America.
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