ISLAMABAD: The Government of Pakistan has shared with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad a list of 319 Indian prisoners in Pakistan, including 49 civilians and 270 fishermen prisoners.
Under an agreement signed on 21 May 2008, the Indian government also simultaneously shared a list of 340 Pakistani prisoners in India, including 263 civilians and 77 fishermen with the High Commission for Pakistan New Delhi.
This step is consistent with the provisions of the Consular Access Agreement between Pakistan and India, signed on 21 May 2008, under which both countries are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each other’s custody twice a year, on 1st January and 1st July, respectively.
Earlier, National committee member of Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) Jatin Desai had said India and Pakistan should release arrested fishermen and women prisoners.
Desai had urged Prime Minister Imran Khan and India’s Minister for External Affairs Jaishankar to release the inmates as a goodwill gesture. Desai appealed to both countries to also consider the increasing novel COVID-19, which is infecting inmates as well.
He said, “The family members of apprehended fishermen and others are worried about their near and dear ones languishing in prisons located inside India and Pakistan”.
There are 207 Indian fishermen and few women inmates in Pakistan’s prisons and similarly, 99 Pakistani fishermen and few women prisoners are in Indian jails.
Pakistan and India usually arrest fishermen on charges of violating territorial water as the maritime boundaries between the two countries were poorly defined and many fishing boats lack technologies for locating their precise places.
