Pakistan has 75 Indian defence personnel, including 54 POW, in its custody, VK Singh tells Parliament

New Delhi: There are 75 missing Indian defence personnel, including 54 prisoners of war, who are believed to be in Pakistan’s custody, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_3863859” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of VK Singh. Reuters[/caption] However, presence of these missing Indians has not been acknowledged so far by Pakistan, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said in a written reply. He also said that as of 27 July, there are 417 fishermen in Pakistan’s custody and 15 fishermen in Sri Lanka’s custody, who are believed to be Indian nationals. “In case of Pakistan, consular access is awaited and information about the states that they belong to is not available. In case of Sri Lanka, the 15 fishermen are believed to be from Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry,” Singh said. Replying to another question on the issue, he said, the government regularly takes up with Sri Lanka and Pakistan the matter of early release and repatriation of Indian fishermen and fishing boats.