Govt to free 47 held on return from Afghan jails

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan decided Sunday to release 47 youths who were detained after returning from Afghanistan where they had fought alongside the Taliban regime, a senior official said.

They will be the first of some 570 Pakistanis held for interrogation since their release from jails in Afghanistan last month, said an adviser to the Punjab government, Tahir Ashrafi. “The first batch of 47 people are being released as investigations found nothing adverse against them,” Ashrafi told AFP. “They were not associated with any terror group or involved in any terrorist activity.”

They had been held in the Haripur jail in northwestern Pakistan after their release by the Kabul administration and were later shifted to the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. The remaining detainees are still being interrogated and those cleared will also be released, Ashrafi added. —AFP

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