ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI - Pakistan and India have exchanged lists of their nuclear installations as well as civilian prisoners in custody as part of a decades-long agreement between the two neighboring countries.
"The list of nuclear installations and facilities in Pakistan was officially handed over to a representative of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today [Sunday]," Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.
India has simultaneously handed over a list of its nuclear installations and facilities to the Pakistani mission in New Delhi, the statement said.
According to the ministry, the lists are exchanged annually on January 1 as part of the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, which was signed in 1988. The practice of exchanging lists has been in place since 1992.
The statement said Pakistan and India also exchanged lists of prisoners in each other's custody as part of the Consular Access Agreement dating back to 2008, which requires both countries to exchange list of inmates on January 1 and July 1 every year.
Pakistan shared a list of 705 Indian prisoners detained in Pakistan, including 51 civilian prisoners and 654 fishermen. The Indian government shared a list of 434 Pakistani prisoners in India, including 339 civilian prisoners and 95 fishermen.
The statement also said Pakistan has requested the early release and repatriation of 51 of its civilian prisoners and 94 fishermen who have completed their sentences. A request for special consular access to 56 civil prisoners has also been made, it said.
The annual exchanges come amid strained ties between the two countries over Kashmir. Back in 2019, India stripped Kashmir of the special autonomy it has had for seven decades, prompting a furious response from nuclear-armed rival Pakistan. Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since it was partitioned in 1947. Both countries claim all of Kashmir and have fought three wars over the disputed Himalayan territory.
