New Delhi, Indian Ministry of External Affairs expressing shock over the arrest of two Indians have asked Islamabad to grant immediate consular access to two of its nationals and sought their repatriation.
“We have seen reports that there were two Indian nationals who inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan sometime in 2016-17. We had informed the Pakistan officials. Since then, we did not get any response. The sudden announcement of arrest is a matter of surprise to us,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
Both Indians, as per police, entered Pakistan without proper documentation. Police in Cholistan said, Pakistani media reported.
One of the two Indians arrested in Pakistan is a software engineer from Telangana and had gone missing from here two years ago.
Prashant Vaindam is from Telangana while Bari Lal belongs to the state of Madhya Pradesh.
India raised the case of Prashant in May 2019 and Bari Lal’s case in December 2018 with Pakistan through diplomatic channels and had sought consular access both times but got no response, the MEA said.
Several other cases of people inadvertently crossing over to Pakistan had happened in the past, and India has also asked consular access and early repatriation of those Indians, Kumar added.
