India asks Pakistan to speed up transfer of prisoner's body

ISLAMABAD: India has asked Pakistan to speed up the process of sending back the body of a Gujarati fisherman who died in a Karachi jail last month.

Indian sources here told PTI that when the two countries exchanged lists of prisoners on January 1, the Indian side noted that a prisoner named Bhikha Lakha Shiyal (35) was shown as dead by Pakistani authorities.

"We immediately took up the matter and asked for documents from India to identify him. We confirmed his identity and wrote to Pakistan's Foreign Office to speed up the process so that his body can be sent back to his family," a source said.

A reminder letter has also been sent to Pakistani authorities to speed up the process, sources said.

Asked how long it would take for the body to be sent back, a source said, "Hopefully, it won't take more time. It should be done soon."

Shiyal was arrested with several others by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency in the Arabian Sea on October 25 for straying into Pakistani waters. He died on December 19 in a Karachi jail.

The cause of his death is yet to be ascertained. His body has been kept in a morgue.

Shiyal, whose wife died about two years ago, has a 15-year-old daughter and three-year-old son.

A Rajya Sabha MP has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up with the Pakistan government the issue of bringing back his body.

In his letter to the Prime Minister on January 14, Parimal Nathwani, an Independent MP in Rajya Sabha, said Shiyal's body was still in Pakistan and this has shocked his two children and family.