NEW DELHI, Aug 30: India and Pakistan have agreed to release hundreds of fishermen and other prisoners held in each other’s jails to strengthen their peace process, a joint statement and an Indian official said on Tuesday.

“They have ... agreed to release on 12 September 2005 all fishermen and civilian prisoners who have completed their sentences and whose national status has been confirmed,” said the statement.

An Indian home ministry official said this would affect “hundreds” of prisoners but did not give an exact number.

The statement was issued after two days of talks in New Delhi between the home secretaries of the two countries.

India says there are 1,348 Indians in Pakistani prisons while Pakistan says more than 700 of its nationals are in Indian jails.

Many prisoners, despite having completed their sentences and having their nationalities confirmed, remain in prison due to “animosity and lack of mutual trust” between the two sides, the official said.

“We have made a fairly substantial move forward on various issues, which is an achievement,” Indian Home Secretary V.K. Duggal said of the talks in which terrorism and drug trafficking were also tackled.

“The talks were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere and the deliberations were frank and forthright,” said the statement, read out at a press conference by Duggal.

Pakistan’s Home Secretary Syed Kamal Shah also described the talks as “positive”.

“The good thing is we went beyond the agenda of the talks ... and discussed the prisoners issue as well. This is something that will provide relief to the common people of both countries,” Mr Shah said.

“The effort is to move further each time we meet,” he added.

The joint statement said India and Pakistan had “reiterated their commitment to combat terrorism and re-emphasised the need for effective steps for the complete elimination of this menace.”—AFP

Jawed Naqvi adds: “Both sides underlined the need for cooperation between the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Investigation Agency and agreed that experts from both sides would meet at mutually convenient dates in the near future to work out modalities for the implementation of the arrangement for cooperation between the two agencies agreed earlier,” a joint statement said.

Both agencies are already closely working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States.

The second round of Home Secretary level talks on terrorism and drug trafficking were held as a part of the ongoing composite dialogue process between the two countries.

The Indian delegation was led by V.K. Duggal, union home secretary while the Pakistani delegation was led by Syed Kamal Shah, secretary of the ministry of interior.

The talks were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere and the deliberations were frank and forthright. Both sides reiterated their commitment to combat terrorism and re-emphasised the need for effective steps for the complete elimination of this menace,” the statement said.

It said both agreed to implement the decisions arrived at by the Foreign Secretaries in December 2004 on prisoners.

They reiterated their commitment to provide immediate notification of arrests made by either side, provide consular access to all persons within three months of arrest and release prisoners immediately after completion of sentence and nationality verification.