Pakistan and India are ready to meet the deadline of Dec. 25 to
free all prisoners whose nationalities have been identified and
their prison sentences completed, the Pakistani foreign office said
Monday.
Foreign Secretaries of both countries in their New Delhi talks
last month agreed to release all fishermen and civilian prisoners
who have already completed their jail terms and their nationalities
have been identified.
Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said at the
weekly press briefing that under the agreement all prisoners would
be freed on Dec. 25.
She did not give any information as to how many Pakistani
prisoners are in Indian jails.
Indian media have reported that over 400 of the 500 Indian
fishermen in prisons on Karachi have been identified and about 50
civilian prisoners who have completed the prison sentences are also
expected to be released by the Dec. 25 deadline.
To a question, Aslam said that Indian foreign minister will be
visiting Islamabad next month and his main purpose is to extend
invitation to the Pakistani leadership to participate in the 14th
South Asian regional summit being held in India next year.
"Both the foreign ministers will also review the third round of
talks between both countries," she said.
In another development, India and Pakistan are set to liberalize
their visa policy starting from next month, according to Indo-Asia
News Service Monday.
The consensus on the liberalization was reached at the foreign
secretary talks in New Delhi last month. A formal agreement on the
policy is expected to be signed on Jan. 13 when the foreign
ministers of the two countries meet in Islamabad.
India and Pakistan also have agreed to increase the number of
visa counters from the existing two to three, and plan to issue
over 1,000 visas daily to business people and tourists.
Under the liberalized policy, citizens and businessmen of both
countries will get a seven-day open visa with no restrictions on
visiting a particular city or place. They would be allowed to move
anywhere.
Tourists will be offered a 15-day visa if they visit in the form
of delegations or groups. Earlier, Indian and Pakistani tourists
were not given visas in groups.
India is to open a new visa counter in Lahore while Pakistan
will open another in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
Now, the two countries issue visas through their consulates in
Mumbai, New Delhi, Karachi and Islamabad.
(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2006)
