New Delhi, Delhi, India

India will be releasing five Pakistani prisoners on June 7 as a goodwill gesture.

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The situation of Indian and Pakistani prisoners languishing in each other's jail has been one of the biggest humanitarian issues between the two countries.

In April, New Delhi had sent a note verbale to Islamabad asking for the release of prisoners who have completed their sentence; after Pakistan released 360 Indian prisoners.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first term was able to secure the release of 1749 Indian prisoners, including 1725 fishermen along with 57 boats.

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In 2017, India had suggested Pakistan that the two sides could work together for the release and repatriation of elderly, women and mentally unsound prisoners on humanitarian grounds and proposed to revive the mechanism of Joint Judicial Committee.

Last six months saw New Delhi sending a number of note verbale to Islamabad asking to organise an early visit of Joint Judicial Committee to Pakistan but it has not received any response.

In December 2018, Pakistan released Indian Citizen Hamid Nehal Ansari after six years in jail. Hamid was arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2012 after he was found with a fake passport. He had gone to Pakistan via Afghanistan on a fake passport to meet a girl he befriended on Facebook.

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It was followed by the release of two Pakistani nationals by India, Imran Warsi and Abdullah Shah. Imran Wari had come to India in 2004 on a valid visa but overstayed after marrying an Indian girl who he loved. He was caught after trying to make a fake passport in Bhopal and released in 2018, after 10 years in jail. Shah, an autistic person from Pakistan's Swat district, crossed over to India to meet Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan in 2017.