Mukherjee says Indian prisoners in Pakistan mistreated
By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, March 1: India said on Thursday its prisoners in Pakistan were mistreated, a charge that is expected to nudge their recent agreement to set up a committee of judges from both countries who would visit each other’s prisons to verify the claims.
Press Trust of India quoted Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee as telling parliament in a written statement that Indian prisoners released by Pakistan had reported ill-treatment during imprisonment.
“Instances of inhuman treatment of Indian prisoners have come to the notice of consular offices of our mission in Islamabad from time to time,” Mr Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha.
“Pakistani authorities do not inform the Indian mission of the arrest of Indians and consular access is not given until their sentence is complete. In many cases it is delayed even beyond that,” his statement said.
He said that 95 Indians in Pakistan jails have yet to be given consular access and 378 fishermen, 144 civilian prisoners and 74 prisoners of war were to the day languishing in Pakistan jails, according to the PTI report.
