NEW DELHI – Prioritising humanitarian issues, India and Pakistan on Sundayexchanged lists of civilian prisoners in each other’s custody, beginningthe process of their release soon.
The swap of lists of prisoners came even as both sides completed the annualexchange of lists of nuclear installations following a 30-year-oldagreement.
“Lists of 250 civilian prisoners and 94 fishermen were handed over toPakistan. Further, lists of 54 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 4 fishermenwho have completed their sentence was also exchanged,” stated the Ministryof External Affairs (MEA) in a press release.
A differently abled minor, Hasnain, was repatriated to Pakistan through theWagah border. The boy had inadvertently crossed into Indian territory inMay 2017.
Pakistan has also shared a list of Indian prisoners out of which 58 arecivilians and 399 are fishermen. The humanitarian gesture came days afterthe government informed Parliament that negative bilateral ties betweenIndia and Pakistan “impinge” on the release of the large number offishermen languishing in each other’s prisons.
“Even in the absence of a structured bilateral dialogue, both sides havereleased fishermen. In 2017, we have successfully secured the release andrepatriation of 363 Indian fishermen, including 245 Indian fishermen whohave been repatriated in the last six months,” Gen. (retd) V.K. Singh toldthe Rajya Sabha.
The MEA, however, asked Pakistan that Islamabad needs to grant consularaccess for some Indian prisoners, including Kulbhushan Jadhav and HamidNehal Ansari.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad said Pakistan would release146 fishermen on January 8.
Pakistan also communicated its disappointment over the non-issuance ofvisas by India, for the visit of the 192 Pakistani pilgrims to the festivalof the shrine of Hazrat Khawaja Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi held duringJanuary 1-8.