As many as 72 Pakistanis imprisoned in Sri Lankan and Thai jails have been repatriated under the Bilateral Agreement on Transfer of Offenders signed with the two countries.

The Foreign Office (FO) has provided this information during a recent meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control. The prisoners repatriated home included 42 from Sri Lanka.

Besides Sri Lanka and Thailand, Pakistan has also signed Bilateral Agreement on Transfer of Offenders (BATO) with the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The Senate committee was also told that five prisoners were repatriated from Seychelles and one from China as a goodwill gesture by the respective governments.

The FO statement further said negotiations were under way for making BATO with Saudi Arabia, China, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Canada, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Netherlands, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United States, Uzbekistan and Yemen.(The News)