List of Pakistan Prisoners in Indian Jails Now in Public Domain

CHANDIGARH : Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a joint initiative of NGOs of India and Pakistan, has put a list of Pakistani prisoners languishing in Indian jails in public domain.

“Till date, these lists were only available at government-level and not on public domain,” Ravi Nitesh, founder of Mission Bharatiyam, a part of the joint initiative, said on Thursday. He added that in many cases relatives of prisoners didn’t even know about their whereabouts.

“This is probably the first time that any such detailed list has been made public. We hope to facilitate transparency and sensitize people on both sides about each other’s pain and towards the larger goal of peace and humanity,” Nitesh said.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti will also release a list of Indian prisoners lodged in Pakistan jails within a month’s time.

According to the updated list available on the organization’s website, there are 345 Pakistani prisoners, including 107 fishermen and 11 women, in Indian jails. While the offences of five prisoners have not been registered, 48 have completed their jail sentence, but are still behind bars.  As many as 27 prisoners currently await the confirmation of their nationality from by the Pakistan high commission.   A few prisoners completed their sentence in 2007 and 2008 and there are others who have been waiting for their No Objection Certificates (NOC) from Indian states as well as nationality confirmation from the Pakistan high commission, Nitesh said. 

Six persons who were acquitted are still languishing in jails. A Pakistani prisoner has been sentenced to death, 139 are under trial and 79 are serving their sentences.