By Xinhua
Islamabad : Pakistan and India have swapped more than 3,000 prisoners since 2003, Pakistan Foreign Office said Wednesday.
As many as 2,657 Indian prisoners have been released from Pakistani jails while some 827 Pakistani nationals were freed from Indian jails, spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said during his weekly press briefing.
Sadiq disclosed that there were still 500 Indian nationals under arrest in Pakistan and 450 Pakistani people in custody in India.
The first meeting of the Pakistan-India joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners was held in New Delhi Tuesday, he said.
The committee recommended that the two governments exchange March 31 consolidated lists of their nationals with full particulars and their present status in each other’s jail.
According to an agreement between the two governments, the fishermen in custody whose nationality status has been confirmed should be released and in remaining cases, consular access should be provided to them by March 31, 2008.
The committee agreed to visit jails in Pakistan in April on dates agreed through diplomatic channels. A return visit to Indian jails will also be arranged.
The committee was set up in January 2007 by the foreign ministers of the two countries to recommend steps for humane treatment and expeditious release of their nationals from the respective jails.