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Pakistan, India to swap prisoners
Pakistan will on Tuesday exchange 20 Indian prisoners held in its jails for an equal number of Pakistanis who had been detained in Indian prisons, Online news agency reports.
Pakistan will on Tuesday exchange 20 Indian prisoners held in its jails for an equal number of Pakistanis who had been detained in Indian prisons, Online news agency reports.
Pakistan will hand over the Indian prisoners to the Border Security Force while India will deliver the Pakistani prisoners to the Pakistan Rangers at the Wagah border check post.
The exchange of the prisoners at 10 am will be attended by top officials of the border forces of both countries.
Sources said some prisoners of war (POWs) were among the people who would be freed on Tuesday. The exact number of the POWs was not immediately available. A majority of civilian prisoners were people who had strayed across the border.
Following the Indian government's demand for release of POWs, Pakistani authorities had sought details of prisoners from the Indian Army from the home and jail departments of all four provinces.
Pakistan is expected to release a large number of Indian POWs next month.
The sources said Pakistan had directed its high commission in India to collect statistics about Pakistani prisoners held in different Indian jails so that Islamabad could seek their release.
According to statistics collected so far, about 800 Pakistanis are languishing in Indian jails after having served their prison terms. A majority of Pakistani prisoners are held in the Amritsar and Tihar jails while most Indian prisoners are held in the Kot Lakhpat jail.
