NEW DELHI, 5 July — The government of India said yesterday it would take steps to release all jailed Pakistani civilians as part of a raft of confidence-building measures ahead of the upcoming Indo-Pakistan peace summit.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has instructed the Home Ministry “to take expeditious action for the release of all Pakistani civilian prisoners currently in India, after due process of law,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
There are currently 229 Pakistani civilians in Indian prisons, most of whom had violated immigration regulations, as well as 202 Pakistani fishermen, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. She put the number of Indian civilian prisoners in Pakistan at 620.
Vajpayee also instructed the coast guard that Pakistani fishermen who “inadvertently transgress into Indian waters” should henceforth be turned back rather than arrested, as was the case in the past, the statement said. The detention of fishermen on both sides has long been a thorn in bilateral relations. “These steps are reflective of our positive approach to all our neighbors, including Pakistan,” the ministry spokeswoman said.
The goodwill measures, which included the reduction or elimination of tariffs on 50 product lines of Pakistani imports to India, came 10 days before Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was due to arrive in India for an historic peace summit with Vajpayee. The summit follows a more than two year freeze in contacts between the South Asian rivals.
Earlier yesterday, Pakistan released an Indian round-the-world cyclist, jailed for three years after entering the country from Afghanistan without a visa. Vikas Singh, who was jailed for three years after entering the country from Afghanistan without a visa in May, was released from a jail in the northwestern city of Peshawar, prison authorities confirmed.
“The step is taken as a goodwill gesture ahead of the India-Pakistan summit,” a Pakistani Interior Ministry said, adding that Singh would return to India today.
The Indian goodwill measures extended to educational and cultural ties, with the government offering 20 scholarships to Pakistani students to study in Indian technical institutes. “Pakistani poets, academics, writers and artists will be invited either individually or in groups for month-long visits,” the statement said, adding that groups of school and university students would be allowed to tour Indian academic establishments.
Meanwhile, with each passing day an additional touch, ironically a greener one, is being given to the summit. Interestingly, the anti-Pakistan extremists of yesterday have changed their old stance dramatically. Uma Bharati, the minister of sports and youth affairs, has changed her tune. Sources indicate that she has written to Vajpayee suggesting an Indo-Pak cricket tournament in view of the forthcoming summit.
Another leader of the same camp, Sushma Swaraj, information and broadcasting minister, has gone a step further in her domain. This year, India has invited Islamabad to participate in the International Film Festival at Bangalore from Oct. 10-20. When questioned on Pakistan’s response, she said, “We will have to wait and see whether they accept it (invitation) or not.” The deadline for accepting the invitation is end August.
