NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, exchanged lists of prisoners on Monday. The list included fishermen and civilian prisoners in each other’s custody.India shared a list of 452 Pakistani prisoners (366 civilians and 86 fishermen) while Pakistan shared a list of 254 Indian prisoners (43 civilians and 211 fishermen).Under the provisions of the bilateral Agreement on Consular Access 2008, such prisoners are exchanged twice a year – on January 1st and July 1st.India has called for the release and repatriation of civilian prisoners and fishermen with their boats and also some missing Indian defence personnel from Pakistan’s custody.“Pakistan has been asked to expedite the release and repatriation of 185 Indian fishermen and civilian prisoners, who have completed their sentence. In addition, Pakistan has been asked to provide immediate consular access to the 47 civilian prisoners and fishermen in Pakistan’s custody, who are believed-to-be-Indian and have not been provided consular access so far,” according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
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