Sri Lankan prisoner to be deported from Pakistan

A Pakistani court on Friday ordered the police to shift a Sri Lankan national from the Peshawar prison to the central jail of Rawalpindi for deportation back to Sri Lanka.

Mohammad Nizam has been kept at the Peshawar Central Prison despite completion of jail term four months ago for illegal stay in the country.

District and sessions judge Anwar Ali Khan issued the orders for the foreigner’s shifting to the capital city police officer during a visit to the prison.

He was accompanied by judicial magistrate Nasrullah Khan and public prosecutor Qaisar Khan.

During the visit, the judge and magistrate also disposed of cases of 31 prisoners facing cases of petty nature.

The jail authorities informed the judge in writing that Mohammad Nizam was arrested in Hasthnagri area of Peshawar by the police on July 27, 2014 for illegal stay in the country.

They said the police claimed that the prisoner didn’t possess proper travel documents and was charged under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.

The authorities said the foreigner was produced before a magistrate, who sentenced him to three days of imprisonment with a fine of Rs700 and asked the relevant authorities to deport him to own country thereafter.

According to official sources, the judge asked the prisons authorities why the prisoner had not been deported despite clear orders of the court.

Jail superintendent Masoodur Rehman said under the present procedure, foreign prisoners except Afghan nationals had been shifted to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for deportation to their respective countries.

He said the prison had taken up the matter with the provincial home department which contacted the interior ministry and sought the prisoner’s deportation.

The jail superintendent said normally, the police took foreign prisoners to Rawalpindi but the local police had yet to act in the Sri Lankan national’s case for unknown reasons.

An official said after the visit, the district judge had sent a letter to the CCPO directing him to make arrangements for the shifting of the prisoner to Rawalpindi so that he could be deported to Sri Lanka. - Dawn.com