3 Pakistani prisoners repatriated through Wagah border, says high commission – Pakistan

The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi said on Friday that three Pakistani prisoners in India were repatriated via the Wagah border.

The border, which connects Lahore with the Indian city of Amritsar, is the only active land crossing between the two neighbours. It was closed to general traffic following a brief but intense military conflict earlier this year.

The high commission identified the prisoners repatriated today as Asghar Ali, Ramzan and Muhammad Idrees, saying that it would continue working towards the “release and repatriation of all Pakistani prisoners in India”.

The Foreign Office (FO) told Dawn the identities of the arrested fishermen and when they were taken into custody.

Ramzan, 43, from Lahore, was arrested in 2010 by India on charges of illegally crossing the border and possessing narcotics. After receiving consular access, his status as a Pakistani national was confirmed in February 2011.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Idrees from Narowal was arrested in 1995 for allegedly crossing the border illegally and was awarded 16 years of imprisonment. He was verified as a Pakistani national in 2005, 10 years after his arrest.

Asghar Ali, 39, from Sadiqabad, was arrested for allegedly crossing the border illegally in 2002. His status as a Pakistani national was confirmed in 2006.

Earlier this month, the fisherfolk community in Pakistan called for the immediate release of fishermen imprisoned in India during a conference at a festival in the coastal belt of Badin, while in September, a Pakistani national imprisoned in India, Raqib Bilal, was repatriated via the Wagah border.

In July, the foreign ministries of Islamabad and New Delhi exchanged lists detailing the number of prisoners held in each other’s countries.

According to a statement from the FO in September, “The government of Pakistan handed over a list of 246 Indian or believed-to-be-Indian prisoners (53 civilian prisoners and 193 fishermen) to a representative of the Indian High Commission, Islamabad.

“Simultaneously, the government of India shared a list of 463 Pakistani or believed-to-be-Pakistani prisoners (382 civilian prisoners and 81 fishermen) to a diplomat from the High Commission for Pakistan, New Delhi,” FO added.

Fishermen are frequently arrested and jailed by the authorities in both Pakistan and India. On November 1, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that a fisherman from Pakistan was arrested by the Indian Coast Guard and coerced into carrying out tasks for New Delhi’s intelligence agency.

The minister said that law enforcement agencies had apprehended a fisherman named Ijaz Mallah while he was out fishing in the sea.

“In September this year, when he was out fishing, he was arrested by the Indian Coast Guard and after the arrest, he was taken to an undisclosed location and was coerced and forced to do some tasks for the Indian intelligence agency,” he said.

Also, this month, the fisherfolk community called for the immediate release of Pakistani fishermen imprisoned in India, as dozens of families continue to suffer while their loved ones remain behind bars in the neighbouring country, despite constitutional protections and bilateral obligations regarding unintentional crossings of the maritime boundary.

Pakistani fishermen released and repatriated earlier this year reported being tortured by Indian authorities, including hard labour, beatings and being burned with metal plates.