(AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Twenty Taliban prisoners are expected to be freed from Pakistan's jails by Thursday in an exchange under which Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, was released at the weekend.Taliban sources told Adnkronos International (AKI) that 60 prisoners had already been released, and 20 others would be freed later this week.
The Taliban also confirmed that they had received a 20 million Pakistani rupee (or 288,000 dollar) payment for the release of the Pakistani ambassador and two army captains.
This despite the fact that the Pakistani authorities claim that no deal was made. An adviser to the Pakistani prime minister for interior ministry affairs, Rehman Malik said on Saturday that Azizuddin's release came as a "result of a law enforcement action."
"No deal took place. No exchange of terrorists. No exchange of individuals," he said.
Sources told AKI that high profile prisoners including Mufti Muhammed Yousuf, an Afghan Taliban commander arrested in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, have already been released.
Maulana Abdul Aziz from Islamabad's Red Mosque is also expected to be released after being acquitted of 26 out of27 cases by the courts and released on bail.
The next batch of prisoners are likely to be released by Thursday and is expected to include Muslim Dost, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who has been in the custody of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.
Earlier the Pakistan government and the Taliban categorised the prisoners and then negotiated a series of exchanges for the ambassador's release.
The first and second lot of prisoners were swapped last week and a third is expected to be completed by Thursday.
Pakistan's ambassador has meanwhile returned home after being freed by the militants who abducted him in February.
Tariq Azizuddin said he had been released in the Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan on Friday but declined to identify his kidnappers after his release.
Azizuddin disappeared on 11 February along with his driver and bodyguard while travelling by car from Pakistan to the Afghan capital, Kabul.