Pakistan, India exchange lists of prisoners

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan handed over a list of 308 Indian prisoners, including 266 fishermen and 42 other civilians lodged in its jails, to the High Commission of India on Saturday, Foreign Office said in a statement.

Indian government also shared a list of 417 Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails with the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, including 74 fishermen and 343 other civilians.

Pakistan and India swapped lists of their nationals in each other’s custody as part of a bilateral agreement.

Over 400 Pakistanis in Indian jails

“The Government of India has been urged to release and repatriate all those Pakistani civilian prisoners and fishermen, who have completed their respective sentence and their national status stands confirmed,” the statement said.

Pakistan and India exchange the lists of prisoners in each other’s custody on January 1 and July 1, every year. The exchange takes place in pursuance of the Agreement on Consular Access, signed on May 21, 2008.

In January, this year, the number of Indian prisoners in Pakistan was as high as 705, which has now decreased to 308. The number of Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails remains almost unchanged, coming down slightly from 434 to 417. Almost three weeks after releasing 198 Indian prisoners, Pakistan had released another 200 Indian fishermen and handed them over to the Indian authorities at the Wagah border.

The release of 400 Indian prisoners in two batches in May and June followed Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s visit to the Indian state of Goa, where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organ­isation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers and held bilateral meetings on May 5.

Pakistan decided to release 600 Indian fishermen held in Pakistan jails when Mr Bhutto-Zardari was planning to leave for India.

Many people expected a thaw in the relations between the two countries during his visit. However, the visit ended with the Indian foreign minister’s outburst against Mr Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan.

However, Pakistan still released the first batch of 198 fishermen on May 11 as a goodwill gesture. The second batch of 200 fishermen was released on June 2 and a third batch of another 200 is most likely to be released this week.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2023