ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India on Sunday exchanged lists of their prisoners in each other’s custody and nuclear facilities in line with an agreement that bounds both countries to share the relevant information by Jan 1 of every year.
According to a Foreign Office (FO) statement, Pakistan shared a list of 628 Indian prisoners with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad in accordance with the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access.
About 51 prisoners on the list are civilians, while 577 are fishermen. “The Indian government also simultaneously shared the list of 355 Pakistani prisoners in India including 282 civilians and 73 fishermen with the High Commission for Pakistan in New Delhi,” the FO statement said.
This step is consistent with clause (i) of the Consular Access Agreement between Pakistan and India, signed on May 21, 2008, under which both countries are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each other’s custody twice a year, on January 1 and July 1, respectively, the statement added.
Similarly, the list of nuclear facilities and installations was handed over to the Indian High Commission by the FO while the Indian Ministry of External Affairs handed over a similar list to an officer of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.
The exchange was made in accordance with the Article-II of the Agreement on Prohibition of Attacks against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between Pakistan and India, signed on December 31, 1988, and ratified on January 27, 1991.
“The agreement provides, inter alia, that both countries should inform each other of their Nuclear Installations and Facilities within the definition of the Agreement on 1st January of each calendar year,” the statement read, adding that this practice has been followed consecutively since 1992.
