Pak-India Peace activists ask V.K Singh stop misleading the parliament

MUMBAI: Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) has asked Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, V.K. Singh not to mislead the parliament on the issue of fishermen jailed in different countries.

 On May 5, 2016, the issue of Indian fish workers arrested in different countries was raised in the Rajya Sabha. It was stated that 272 Indian fishermen are in jails in four countries. Of these, 220 are prisoners in Pakistan, 34 in Sri Lanka, 10 in Bangladesh and eight in Iran.

Giving an explanation of what are the mechanisms with different countries, in the context of Pakistan, the reference was made to the Indo-Pak Judicial Committee on Prisoners.

Minister of State for External Affairs, V.K Singh stated that “as per bilateral agreement in May 2008, India-Pakistan Joint Judicial Committee consisting of retired judges of superior judiciary from two countries are meeting every six months and visiting jails to ameliorate the conditions, ensure humane treatment and expeditious release of prisoners.”

However, the fact of the matter is that, the India- Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners has not met since more than two years. We demand for this committee to immediately be made active, clarifies PIPFPD in a statement on Friday.

“We would like to specify to both governments of Pakistan and India that the work of this committee needs to be facilitated with the support of both governments. Hence, immediate action is required in this matter”, the statement said.