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India-Pakistan agree on humanitarian measures

Pakistan has sought modification, suggesting to include child prisoners under 18 years and those over 60 in the exchange proposal.

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Apparently in an attempt to de-freeze their relations, India and Pakistan have agreed to undertake certain humanitarian measures. Pakistan Foreign Office in a release on Wednesday informed that it has accepted an Indian proposal to exchange prisoners of over 70 years of age, facilitate visit of medical experts from both sides to examine the mentally-challenged prisoners for their repatriation and revive the defunct Joint Judicial Committee mechanism. In a counter-proposal, Pakistan has sought modification, suggesting to include child prisoners under 18 years and those over 60 in the exchange proposal.

"The Foreign Minister, after consulting with all stakeholders, has approved the following humanitarian proposals, which had been received from the Indian side, regarding civilian prisoners incarcerated in both the countries," the release said.

Most significant proposal is the revival of the Judicial Committee mechanism. A parliamentary panel under Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, which last year scrutinised India-Pakistan relations, had expressed dismay that this mechanism was defunct since 2013. The last visit of India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners, comprising retired High Court Judges from both sides, took place from October 25-31, 2013, in India. The next visit is to be hosted by Pakistan. The then foreign secretary S. Jaishankar had told the committee that the Ministry of External Affairs has proposed to revive the mechanism, but was awaiting Pakistan's nod. There are two mechanisms for humanitarian exchanges of prisoners, the Consular Access Agreement of 2008 and the India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners.

There are also 22 mentally challenged Indians, lodged in Pakistani jails, awaiting their repatriation for want of verification of their addresses and antecedents. Two of them are even nameless. Officials have recorded one of them, aged 45-50 years, with a mark of 'Om' on the back of his palm as 'deaf and dumb', while the other is named as 'unknown'. Similarly, in India also there are some 50 such mentally challenged prisoners, who are unable to record their antecedents. On Wednesday, both countries agreed to facilitate the visit of medical experts (from both sides) to meet and examine these mentally-challenged prisoners for their repatriation.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif expressed the hope that India would positively reciprocate to Pakistan's proposals, in the spirit that they have been made. He stated that it was his desire that through such initiatives, Pakistan and India would embark on the road to a comprehensive dialogue and make a conscious effort to de-escalate the extremely vitiated current environment and the situation on the Line of Control.

Both Pakistani and Indian troops have exchanged heavy fire for the past two years after relations nosedived, following terrorist incidents in 2016 in Pathankot and Uri. India blamed Pakistani militants for carrying out the attacks.

The arrest of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in Balochistan province in 2016 further deteriorated relations. Pakistan alleged that Jadhav was a serving Indian Navy official employed by RAW to spread terror in Balochistan and Sindh Province, while India denied the allegations. India went to the International Court of Justice in 2017, following a death sentence that was awarded by a military court to Jadhav.

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