Pakistan, India swap lists of inmates

Islamabad wants 47 fishermen, 15 others freed as they have completed their sentences

ISLAMABAD:

India and Pakistan on Wednesday exchanged lists of prisoners in each other’s custody in in accordance with a 2008 consular access agreement.

The Foreign Office said the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was handed over a list of 270 fishermen and 54 civilian prisoners in Pakistan.

Similarly, India shared a list of 362 Pakistani prisoners in India – 265 civilian prisoners and 97 fishermen – with the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

According to the agreement signed on May 21, 2008, both countries are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each other's custody twice a year – on January 1, and July 1.

The Pakistan government has been calling for early release and repatriation of 15 Pakistani civil prisoners and 47 fishermen, who have completed their sentences and whose nationality has been confirmed and conveyed to India.

Moreover, India has been asked to provide immediate consular access to 77 believed to be Pakistani civil prisoners and 113 Pakistani fishermen who are in Indian custody.

The agreement does not prisoners held on charges of espionage or other military-related offences.

Last year, Pakistan had released 360 Indian prisoners, including 355 fishermen and five civilians who had completed their sentences, as a goodwill gesture.

Due to the rocky relations between the two sides, prisoners who have completed their jail terms often languish in each other’s jails for months, if not years, afterwards.

In January this year, Pakistan had shared a list of 282 Indian prisoners in the country with the High Commission of India in Islamabad

India handed over a list of 267 Pakistan civilian prisoners and 99 fishermen in its custody.

Both the countries also exchanged lists of nuclear installations and facilities.

According to the Foreign Office, list of Pakistan's nuclear installations was handed over to the Indian representative in Islamabad while the list from Indian side was received by Pakistani representative in New Delhi.

The handing and taking over of the lists is binding on both countries on January 1 every year in accordance with an agreement on prohibition of attacks against nuclear installations and facilities between the two countries signed on December 31, 1988.

The two countries have also set up a telephone hotline to prevent accidental nuclear conflict.

The lists have been exchanged consecutively since 1992.