There are about 923 civilian prisoners, 371 fishermen and 54 Prisoners of War (POWs) in various Pakistani jails, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahmed told the parliament on Wednesday.

However, Pakistan acknowledges that only 182 civilian prisoners are lodged in various jails there. It does not admit the presence of any Indian POWs in Pakistan.

According to Ahmed, the Indian Government has taken up the matter of release of Indian prisoners through diplomatic channels and high level contacts from time to time.

He said during the Foreign Secretary level talks held in December 2004 in Islamabad, the two sides agreed that immediate notification would be provided to the respective High Commissions through the Foreign Ministries of the arrested Indian/Pakistani nationals.

The two sides also agreed that consular access would be given to all the civilian prisoners (including fishermen) held in each other's country within three months from the date of their arrest and repatriation would be made immediately after completion of sentence and nationality verification, Ahmed added.

The issue of early release and repatriation of all the Indian fishermen along with their boats again came up for discussion during Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh's visit to Islamabad in February, and also during Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's visit to New Delhi in April this year.

Ahmed said that Pakistan released 800 Indian fishermen between January and March 2005.

New Delhi also claims that there are about 198 Indian fishing boats in Pakistan's custody, and that the issue has repeatedly been taken up with Islamabad.

Source: Xinhua