Dealing with India-Pakistan prisoners

   Dealing with India-Pakistan prisoners

Nothing could be more repulsive in modern day diplomacy than a country arresting civilian nationals of another country and then cynically using them as bargaining chips in bilateral issues. Yet India and Pakistan have followed this egregious practice for decades. They have kept hundreds of people from the other side in their jails, releasing them only when it suits one or both governments, irrespective of when an individual prisoner completed his sentence. Some of these hapless cross-border prisoners end up spending as long as two decades in jail for offences such as smuggling, overstaying their visa, or crossing the border illegally. Almost all of them are poor; at the time of their arrest, some are not even aware of committing an offence. Clearly, the fishermen who regularly get arrested in the Arabian Sea for crossing the international boundary line do so only for livelihood reasons. An Ajmal Amir Kasab, caught while committing a terrorist offence, is rare on either side. In recent years, responding to the outrage among activists at this blatant violation of human rights, the two governments have made some attempts to tackle the “prisoners' issue,” as it is now known, but it is way down on their list of priorities. Fortunately, the judiciary in both countries has emerged as a counter-force on behalf of the prisoners. Commendably, the judges have taken non-nationalist positions and assessed the issue purely in terms of the universality of human rights. A few months ago, the Supreme Court of India ordered the release of a group of Pakistanis held in Indian jails well after they had completed their sentence. An intervention by the Pakistan Supreme Court last week led to the release of 442 Indian fishermen.

New Delhi responded by announcing the release of 31 Pakistani prisoners. But beyond implementing the court's orders, both governments must wake up to the need for a mechanism that can ensure humane treatment of a person from the other side who has been charged with committing an offence. The objective must be to send such people back as soon as possible, especially when the offences are minor. At present, there is a reluctance even to inform the other side of an arrest or grant the detainee access to a diplomatic representative of his country. The poor shape of bilateral relations cannot be an excuse for the present shabby treatment of these people. As a country that calls itself the world's largest democracy, India must take the lead in setting up a fast-track process for dealing with Pakistani prisoners without waiting to work it out reciprocally with Pakistan.