‘Pakistani prisoners being tortured in India’

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails are being “tortured” and “have had their identity papers stolen” to facilitate Indian spies enter Pakistan, an editorial in a Pakistani paper Saturday alleged, and urged that Indians jailed in the country be treated the same way.

Noting that most of the Pakistani prisoners were those who had crossed the border inadvertently, the editorial in the Nawa-i-Waqt said that around the world, the custom was that all those who had crossed a border into a neighbouring country were questioned for a few hours and then handed over to the custody of the country they were a citizen of.

“But in case of India, their police often target such prisoners in a most inhuman way. They are kept locked up in jails for many years, undergo the most barbaric treatment and Indian police steal their identity documents. These are given to Indian agents and spies to make fraudulent passports and other documents to enable them to enter Pakistan for their nefarious designs,” it alleged.

The editorial said the Pakistan government should “mete out the same treatment to Indian prisoners in its jails and pump them for all information they possess”.

Meanwhile, it urged the government to intervene urgently into the case of other Pakistani prisoners to prevent them for coming back as mental and physical wrecks or as dead bodies while “Indian prisoners were given all the necessary protocol when they were sent back to their country”.

“Pakistani diplomats in India must speed up the process of identifying all the prisoners lodged in Indian jails and arrange for their expeditious and honourable release,” the editorial said, adding that the help of Amnesty International and the Red Cross could be taken for the purpose.