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Rediff.com  » News » India, Pakistan to release prisoners on September 12

India, Pakistan to release prisoners on September 12

By Onkar Singh in New Delhi
September 09, 2005 20:34 IST
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India will release 101 Pakistani civil prisoners and 51 fishermen on September 12 as agreed between the home secretaries of the two countries on August 29 and 30.

Pakistan in exchange will release 371 Indian fishermen and 64 civilians. The exchange of prisoners will take place at the Wagah border in Amritsar at 11 am on Monday, according to a press released issued by the Union Home Ministry on Friday.

The released prisoners have completed prison sentences and have been issued travel documents by India and Pakistan. Twenty prisoners come from different jails in Rajasthan, 10 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, 6 from West Bengal, 31 from Jammu and Kashmir, one from Nagaland, two from Delhi and one from Maharashtra.

Fifty one Pakistani fishmermen will also be brought to Wagah border and they too will be released on Sept 12.

The Indian prisoners who walk through the border checkpost on Monday will be handed over to the representatives of the states to which they belong. Indian authorities refused to give more details about the Indian prisoners to be released.

"We have not yet been give this information," said a senior official of the Home Ministry. 

Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, while addressing a press conference in New Delhi, said that he had no intimation of denial of visa by Pakistan to the family members of Sarabjit Singh who was awarded death sentence for his alleged role in a bomb blast case in Pakistan.

"I am afraid I have no knowledge about it," he said.

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Onkar Singh in New Delhi