Six-monthly ritual: Pakistan, India exchange lists of prisoners

New Delhi implicitly seeks consular access to detained RAW agent

ISLAMABAD: The governments of Pakistan and India on Friday exchanged lists of prisoners languishing in each other country’s respective jails, as New Delhi raised the issue of consular access to the detained RAW agent.

Lists are exchanged under the Consular Agreement signed between the two countries on May 21, 2008. Lists are to be exchanged twice a year, on January 1 and July 1.

In line with the agreement, Pakistan handed over to the Indian envoy here a list of 518 prisoners languishing in Indian jails, a Foreign Office statement said, adding the list contained names of 55 civilians and 463 fishermen.

Meanwhile, the External Affairs Ministry said India remains committed to addressing humanitarian matters with Pakistan, including those pertaining to prisoners and fishermen in each other’s country.

“In this context, we await confirmation of the nationality of those from Pakistan who are otherwise eligible for release and repatriation, and consular access to those Indian nationals in Pakistan’s custody for whom it has so far not been provided,” it added.

The Indian statement appears to refer to the case of Kulbhushan Yadav, an India spy, who was arrested in Balochistan.

India had sought consular access to Yadav, who has confessed to working for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to create instability in Balochistan and Karachi.

Pakistan has so far refused to give India consular access insisting that since Yadav is a spy, hence he cannot be granted such a facility. The prisoners’ lists were exchanged at a time when the two countries are struggling to revive their stalled structured dialogue.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that it was hard to decide who to speak to in Pakistan about peace, implying that the civilian and military leadership was not on the same page vis-à-vis ties with New Delhi.

Pakistan, however, dismissed the notion and instead accused India of shying away from resuming the peace process. Reacting to Modi’s remarks, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said this was not a very good excuse to stall the dialogue process.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2016.