A rights organisation called the Commonwealth Humans Rights Initiative has started a campaign for them on Facebook.
Pakistan has conveyed to India that 17 Indians, including four women, have completed their jail terms in that country but they cannot be sent back home as they are unable to recall their whereabouts since they are "mentally unsound". As Pakistan has failed to get details of their background, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has been given special consular access to these prisoners hoping to make breakthrough.
The Indian High Commission in Islamabad has sent the pictures of all these 17 prisoners to Ministry of External Affairs to trace their family members. The MEA had now forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs the details of the 17 prisoners to help identify their families and homes in India.
The MHA put their pictures on social media, inviting people to identify them. If any of the persons are identified, the MHA has made a request to furnish any information on the jailed persons and contact the administration. The details of the contacts are here.
A rights organisation called the Commonwealth Humans Rights Initiative has started a campaign for them on Facebook. They have made a plea to share the photographs of the prisoners widely so there are more chances of identification. They even cited the article 14 of United Nations Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) which says that disability cannot justify deprivation of liberty.
Among the 17 Indian prisoners in Pakistan, four are women who have been identified as Gullu Jan, Ajmeera, Naqaya and Hasina.
The others are Sonu Singh, Surinder Mahto, Prahalad Singh, Silrof Salim, Birju, Raju, Bipla, Rupi Pal, Panwasi Lal, Raju Mahouli, Shyam Sunder, Ramesh and Raju Rai.
Many of them seem to be old in the pictures provided by Pakistan. The prisoners have not been able to disclose any other particulars during the consular access, sources said. These Indians have completed their sentences but due to non-confirmation of their nationality they could not be repatriated to India, sources said.
Pakistan had given consular access to these prisoners amidst the ongoing hostilities between the two countries but before the now-cancelled National Security Advisor talks.
Last year the Indian government had said that there were around 403 Indians, including nearly 350 fishermen, languishing in Pakistani jails for various crimes. Many of them are mentally ill.
On August 2, Pakistan had released 163 Indian fishermen held for violating its territorial waters as a goodwill gesture. On August 7, India repatriated 16 Pakistani prisoners, whose nationality has been confirmed by Pakistani authorities.
With agency inputs
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