India has urged Pakistan to expedite the release and repatriation of 188 Indian fishermen and civil prisoners who have completed their sentences. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that as a result of sustained efforts by the government of India, 2,661 Indian fishermen and 78 Indian civil prisoners have been repatriated from Pakistan since 2014. This includes 500 fishermen and 20 civil prisoners who have been repatriated from Pakistan since 2023.
The MEA emphasized that India has consistently called for the early release and repatriation of civil prisoners, fishermen along with their boats, and missing Indian defence personnel from Pakistan’s custody. India has also shared with Pakistan a list of 386 civil prisoners and 53 fishermen, believed to be Pakistani nationals, in its custody. Under the provisions of the Agreement on Consular Access signed between India and Pakistan in 2008, such lists are exchanged every year on January 1 and on July 1.
Pakistan has also shared a list of 52 civil prisoners and 198 fishermen, believed to be Indian nationals, in its custody. The MEA has urged Pakistan to provide immediate consular access to the 13 civil prisoners in Pakistan’s custody, who are believed to be Indian and have not been provided consular access so far. Additionally, the Indian government has urged Pakistan to ensure the safety, security, and welfare of all Indians and believed to be Indian prisoners, pending their release and repatriation to India.
Pakistan has handed over to the Indian High Commission a list of 250 Indian prisoners in Pakistan, comprising 52 civilian prisoners and 198 fishermen. Islamabad has also urged India to release and repatriate 97 Pakistani prisoners – 64 civilians and 33 fishermen – who have completed their sentences and whose nationality has been confirmed. Meanwhile, India has condemned the demolition of a 125-year-old gurdwara in Pakistan’s Farooqabad, terming it a ‘deeply distressing’ act of vandalism against a revered Sikh shrine.
The MEA has called upon the government of Pakistan to ‘expeditiously investigate’ this matter and ‘bring the perpetrators of this despicable act to justice’.
