By IRNA,
Islamabad : Pakistan and India Thursday simultaneously exchanged lists of prisoners, the Foreign Ministry said.
“According to the Agreement on Consular Access signed by Pakistan and India on 21 May 2008, both counties are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each other’s custody on 1 January and 1 July every year,” the Foreign Ministry statement said.
Consistent with the provisions of this Agreement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over the list of Indian prisoners in Pakistan to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on Thursday, it said.
According to foreign office spokesman, the exchange of lists between two countries is a usual practice.
The statement did not mention the number of prisoners but according to the list India gave to Pakistan on January 1, 2010, there are 633 Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails, of whom 509 are civil prisoners and 124 are fishermen. However, the Pakistan foreign ministry claims that there are 923 Pakistanis still in Indian jails. India has yet to provide consular access to over 100 Pakistani prisoners. These Indians and Pakistanis have been imprisoned on charges of spying or illegal entry.
Foreign office sources said that the list provided by India earlier this year does not include 18 Pakistan Army personnel, who were made Prisoners of War in 1965 and 1971. They said that Pakistan had handed over the list of these 18 Pakistanis to the Indian High Commission on December 22, 2009.
Despite the subsequent reminders sent to the Indian External Affairs Ministry regarding the release of Pakistani prisoners, there was no response from the Indian side.
Pakistan on Wednesday released 17 Indian prisoners as a “goodwill gesture”, the prisoners were handed over to Indian authorities at the Wahga border crossing near Lahore.