'No Indian PoWs in Pak. jails'

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 5. Pakistan tonight said there was no Indian prisoner of war (PoW) in any prison or jail in Pakistan.

A spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Office said here that it had been reconfirmed after thorough investigations conducted by the Ministries of Defence and Interior.

This was one of the issues taken up by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, at the Agra summit with Gen. Musharraf and the Pakistani military leader immediately on his return to Islamabad had ordered an investigation into the matter.

India believes that there are 54 PoWs of 1971 in various Pakistani jails. However, Pakistan has consistently denied the existence of any Indian PoWs.

The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman said Gen. Musharraf had ordered the latest investigation in response to a request made by Mr. Vajpayee at the Agra summit. He said previous searches carried out at India's request had also not come up with any Indian PoWs in any Pakistani jail.

In another development Gen. Musharraf has said that nobody can dare threaten Pakistan territory and people as its soldiers stand alert and prepared to guard the borders.

In his message on the occasion of the commemoration of 1965 war with India, Gen. Musharraf said that ``we are prepared to lay down our lives in defence of our homeland. However, we have to fight a war in the economic field also. This is a war against hunger, inequality and deprivation.

``We must not ignore the fact that the future belongs to economically prosperous countries and hence we should forge unity and harmony in our ranks to achieve prosperity. We are not vulnerable in defence as the Pakistan Armed Forces have the capability and prowess to battle any adventurer or aggressor. But our vulnerability lies in economic dependence and infrastructure pitfalls, which we must overcome by bracing ourselves in unison on a war footing''.

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Section  : International
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