ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: Pak-istan and India will free 435 and 152 prisoners, respectively, on Monday in accordance with an agreement reached between them last month. Among the prisoners to be released by Pakistan are 64 civilians and 371 fishermen. India will set free 101 Pakistani civilians and 51 fishermen.

Pakistan and India had agreed to release on Sept 12 all those civilian prisoners of either side who had completed jail terms and whose national status had been confirmed.

Meanwhile, both the countries will start on Monday an expeditious process of verification of national status of their citizens detained by each other. The two sides will provide quick counsellor access to prisoners and ensure their immediate release after verification of their national status.

Official sources said the process was expected to be completed by the second week of October. Officials of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi would meet Pakistani prisoners in India’s Tihar jail on Sept 12-13, in Amritsar jail on Sept 19-20, and in Jaipur jail on Sept 27-28.

The sources said that the foreign office on receiving details about prisoners would pass on the data to relevant home departments to confirm their national status within seven to 10 days. On confirmation these details would be sent to Indian authorities in October.

The sources said the government had decided to simplify the identification process so that prisoners without proper documents could be released as early as possible.

There are 611 Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails, including 52 fishermen. Out these, national status of 173 has been confirmed while the identification of 178 prisoners is in process. There are 576 Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails.

APP adds: India will hand over prisoners to Pakistani authorities at the Wagah border.

Pakistan has verified the national status of 197 civilian prisoners of which 152 would be released on Monday. The rest would be set free later owing to logistic problems.