LAHORE: Indian authorities handed over the body of a Pakistani prisoner killed in India’s Jaipur Central Jail to Punjab Rangers at the Wagah-Attari border on Saturday.
The family of the deceased, Shakir Ullah, was present at the border to receive his body. He will be buried in his hometown Daska in Sialkot district, according to his brother.
Shakirullah was beaten up by inmates and died on February 20. The release of his body comes after 12 days of his murder.
Shakirullah was arrested in 2003 after mistakenly crossing the border.
Pakistan had lodged a strong protest with the Pakistani High Commission and sought an explanation from Indian authorities regarding the incident.
The Foreign Office in a press release on February 21 said that they had been informed that Shakirullah had sustained injuries following a “scuffle” between fellow inmates in the television room of the jail, “which proved fatal”.
The FO noted that as per some Indian media reports, Shakirullah was lynched.
“It is incomprehensible how a ‘scuffle’ between prisoners in an established Government set up was allowed to escalate to the extent that Mr Shakirullah sustained fatal injuries,” the statement said.
According to The Hindu, the deceased was undergoing life imprisonment after his conviction in a terror-related case in Jaipur in 2017.
Shakirullah reportedly received serious head injuries caused by a blunt object after an “altercation” with other inmates, the publication added.
The release of the deceased prisoner’s body comes a day after Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman — who was captured by Pakistan after his MiG 21 Bison aircraft was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet — was handed over in a gesture of peace to India at the Wagah border.
There are 537 Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails, whereas 347 Pakistanis are languishing in Indian prisons, according to the lists exchanged by the two countries on New Year’s day.