ISLAMABAD, July 18: The Supreme Court was informed on Wednesday that out of a total of 465 prisoners of foreign origin 267 had been repatriated to their home countries by the end of June with the rest kept in different jails.

Deputy Attorney General Dil Mohammad Alizai told a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that they had been arrested by police or the FIA and booked under Section 14 of the Foreign Act 1946 for illegally entering Pakistan or for their involvement in anti-state activities.

The bench had taken up a petition of human rights activist Ansar Burney who requested the court to order the release of foreign prisoners, especially those belonging to India. Mr Alizai said that out of 198 foreign prisoners 129 were detained in Punjab, 39 in Sindh, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 27 in Balochistan. Their cases are being considered by the Federal Review Board (FRB) set up by the Supreme Court under Article 10(4) of the Constitution for extension of their internment period.

Justice Nasirul Mulk heads the board.

The deputy attorney general submitted a report on the issue and assured the court that the prisoners would be repatriated to their respective countries after getting a direction from the FRB, receipt of air ticket and confirmation of their national status.

The report said there were two types of Indian prisoners fishermen and civilians. The fishermen are regularly arrested in bulk and their cases are pursued vigorously. They are sentenced to six months simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs1,000 by a magistrate at Karachi dock for illegally crossing into Pakistan waters.

After completion of their sentence the fishermen are repatriated to India.

The report said the civilians were arrested by police or lawenforcement agencies for entering Pakistan illegally or for their involvement in antistate activities.

They are awarded different sentences by courts and after completion of their sentences and confirmation of their national status the interior ministry makes arrangements for their release and repatriation.

Earlier, the court was informed that the prime minister had approved the appointment of judges in different special courts and their notification would be issued soon. The chief justice observed that lack of judges in special courts had adversely affected the judicial work.