In a major relief to about 1,200 Indians imprisoned here in the country, India and UAE will sign two important agreements that will pave the way for the prisoners to serve the rest of their jail term back home.
UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Lieutenant General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed al-Nahyan, will sign the agreements with Home Minister P. Chidambaram tomorrow. The two agreements to be signed are Indo-UAE agreement on transfer of sentenced persons and Indo-UAE security cooperation, Indian Ambassador to UAE, M. K. Lokesh said.
"The agreement will ensure that Indians sentenced in the UAE will have the option to serve the rest of their jail term back home in India.
"This will apply to those who have already been convicted and not to undertrials," Lokesh said.
According to him there are around 1,200 Indians imprisoned in the UAE for various crimes including on drugs and finance-related charges.
"As per its provisions, any Indian sentenced in the UAE, who is to be transferred to Indian jail, should have a minimum of six months of jail term left and there shouldn't be any pending case against him," he said.
There is only one UAE national presently in an Indian prison. Lokesh said that the India-UAE agreement on security cooperation will facilitate collaboration between the two countries on global crimes such as terrorism and money laundering.
"It will help better exchange of intelligence between the two sides and ensure training on cyber security," the ambassador said.
Lokesh also said the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi is trying to arrange another meeting of the India-UAE Joint Commission that was set up in 2009. He also said that a regional Pravasi Bhartiya Divas function will be held in Dubai in the second half of 2012.