COLOMBO, Aug 20- The Sri Lankan government has transferred 29 Indian prisoners to India under a bilateral agreement between both countries, Xinhua news agency reports the Indian High Commission as saying on Monday.
The High Commission said that 31 prisoners serving sentences in Sri Lanka jails were found eligible for transfer to India based on an agreement signed between India and Sri Lanka in June 2010.
“As stipulated in the agreement, to facilitate social rehabilitation of prisoners in their own country the prisoners’ cases were processed by the Sri Lankan Government and forwarded to the Indian authorities for formalities on the Indian side,” the High Commission said.
Once all formalities were completed, the prisoners were transferred to India in two batches.
The announcement of the prisoner transfer came as Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister Professor G L Peiris was in India to formally invite Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka in November.
– BERNAMA
