Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Tuesday summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner and protested against unprovoked firing by Indian forces at the Line of Control (LoC).
According to Foreign Office spokesman, the Director General of South Asia and SAARC at the FO summoned the Acting Indian deputy high commissioner and handed him a protest note from Pakistani government over firing at the LoC. In unprovoked firing of Indian forces at Neelum Valley on the LoC, a woman was martyred and nine civilians injured on Tuesday. The deceased woman, identified as Asiya Bibi, was hit in the head by a shrapnel from a mortar shell outside her house and she died on the spot, officials said.
Meanwhile, the FO also said that Pakistan has handed over a list of its nuclear installations and facilities to a representative of the Indian High Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the foreign office, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi also provided a list of Indian Nuclear installations and facilities to an envoy of the Pakistan High Commission on Tuesday. The annual exchange takes place in accordance with Article-II of the the Agreement on Prohibition of Attacks against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, signed between Pakistan and India on December 31st, 1988. The agreement contains a provision that both countries inform each other of their nuclear installations and facilities on January 1st, every year. This has been done consecutively since January 1st, 1992.
Moreover, Pakistan has also shared a list of 537 Indian prisoners with the Indian High Commission in the federal capital in accordance with the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
About 54 Indian prisoners on the list are civilians, while 483 are fishermen, the FO maintained.
The Indian government will also share the list of Pakistani prisoners with Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi,
The process of exchanging prisoner’s list takes place twice a year on Jan 1 and July 1, which is in line with the 2008 agreement of Consular Access. In accordance with the agreement, India and Pakistan are obliged to exchange a list of prisoners, which both countries hold captive across the border.
Published in Daily Times, January 2nd 2019
