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Musharraf may remit sentences
of 25 jailed Indians

President Pervez Musharraf will study the possibility of remitting the sentences of 25 Indians jailed in Pakistan on criminal charges, an official said on Thursday.

These 25 are among 171 Indians in Pakistani prisons held on a variety of charges, said Tasneem Nurani, secretary in the interior ministry.

However, Nurani added that Pakistan has not been holding any Indian soldier since the 1971 war.

About the 25 convicted Indians who have less than one year to serve in jails, Nurani said: "The president has ordered to put before him their cases for remission of the sentence."

Musharraf on Wednesday ordered a nationwide search for jailed Indian soldiers in pursuance to a promise made to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the Agra summit.

He said the government launched a combing operation in all Pakistani jails on Thursday following instructions from Musharraf. "But I am dead sure there is no such prisoner."

He said the jail authorities had been asked to identify each and every prisoner in all prisons and submit the list within 15 days. The president directed all provincial governors and other authorities to make sure that no Indian PoWs were still held in Pakistan.

He said this was not the first time India had called for the release of its PoWs. "This is strange that India has given the number of prisoners," he said.

Families of 54 Indian soldiers who went missing during the 1971 war claim the men are being held up in Pakistani jails and that they have evidence to back their claims.

Vajpayee took up the issue with Musharraf at the Agra summit when the families demanded to know the truth.

"We invite them (India) to provide clues, if they have any, about these 54 Indian PoWs so that our task to trace them could become easier," the official said.

A joint meeting of the National Security Council and the cabinet was informed that a similar exercise had been undertaken during president Zia-ul Haq's regime, but no Indian prisoner was traced.

"I have made a commitment to Vajpayee that I would get back to him on this matter," Musharraf said. "I am a soldier and there is no point in keeping PoWs even after 30 years."

Among the 171 Indians in Pakistani jails, three face death sentences and sixty-five will be deported once the Indian high commission completes certain formalities.

Pakistan, officials in Islamabad said, had asked India to search for 395 Pakistani soldiers who went missing in 1971. India told Pakistan that it did not have any of them.

"We never took up the matter again," one official said. Indo-Asian News Service

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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