"To my mind, such a stand is legally untenable apart from adverse repercussions it will have on the image of India internationally. Prisoners cannot be used as hostages or used as levers for bargaining," he said in a letter to Home Secretary N Gopalaswami.

Sorabjee noted that the government of India's stand emanated from the fact that Pakistan was not acceding to its request for release of Indian prisoners as per its requirement," sources said quoting the letter.

According to the sources, the Attorney General has made it clear that the fundamental right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution extended to the foreigners.

In the letter, Sorabjee conveyed to the government an apex court bench's view expressed on Thursday that those Pakistani nationals, who have served their sentence and not detained under any order, should be deported.

During an earlier hearing pertaining to 14 Pakistani prisoners, the government, through Additional Solicitor General Altaf Ahmed, had taken the stand that some of these prisoners were kept in detention so as to enable the India to secure the release of number of Indians lodged in Pakistani jails.

Sorabjee has stated that the apex court was not concerned with the acts or omissions of another foreign government as India has to act in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the law irrespective of the behaviour of the Pakistani government.

The court, which was firmly of the opinion that those who have served sentences and not detained under any order be released forthwith, had adjourned the matter on the request of the Attorney General till September 2 while directing the government to pass appropriate orders for deportation of the Pakistani prisoners after examining each case separately.

The sources said the Attorney General discussed the two problems cited by the government officials in deporting the Pakistani prisoners — Pakistani authorities may not accept them at the border and that these prisoners may re-enter India.

The Atorney General has said that the first objection did not appear to be realistic, as the Pakistan government has expressed willingness to accept some of the prisoners.

On the second count, he said that the authorities were free to re-arrest the deported prisoners if they re-entered India, the sources added.

Conceding that the government had the power to detain these prisoners, Sorabjee has stressed that if the period of detention was indefinite, such orders for detention were liable to be struck down as the government had openly stated its stand in the court that it was keeping them as hostages.