The Foreign Office (FO) has announced that an Indian prisoner named Jitendra will be released "on compassionate grounds" on Thursday due to his deteriorating health.

FO spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said that Jitendra was arrested in 2014 and, even though he was given instant consular access, India did not confirm his nationality until April 2018.

Jitendra's sentence had ended the same year he was arrested in but India's failure to confirm his nationality meant that he has been languishing in Pakistani prison for more than three years.

Dr Faisal said that the decision to repatriate Jitendra was a tough one as 48 Pakistani prisoners have still not been returned by India despite having completed all the formalities.

However, the FO spokesperson said, Jitendra's health is deteriorating due to a "debilitating blood disease" and therefore, it was decided to send him back to his native country.

"We believe that humanitarian issues should not be politicised," Dr Faisal said. "We hope to see our prisoners repatriated [and reunited] with their families [as well]."

In December 2017, the National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan had secretly agreed to take steps for the imminent release of prisoners who are elderly or disabled or females, on humanitarian grounds.

Following some deliberation, the two countries in March 2018 had reached an official agreement, according to which female prisoners, prisoners over 70 years of age or mentally challenged or persons with special needs incarcerated in each other's penitentiaries were to be released on humanitarian grounds.