DATE=9/4/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PAK / INDIA (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-253859
BYLINE=AYAZ GUL
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Pakistan has put off releasing two Indian prisoners
at the last moment after India objected to journalists
being present at their handover to the International
Committee of the Red Cross. Ayaz Gul reports from
Islamabad.
TEXT: Pakistan's foreign ministry had planned to release
the Indian soldiers to the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) at a news conference in Islamabad on
Tuesday. But the ministry spokesman, Tariq Altaf, says the
handover has now been postponed because Red Cross officials
said India objected to the presence of news media at the
handover.
The Pakistani foreign ministry wants the media present to
verify the condition of the Indian soldiers to avoid, what
Mr. Altaf calls, possible allegations by India of
mistreatment of the prisoners.
Earlier this year, India accused Pakistan of mutilating the
bodies of soldiers who were killed during military clashes
between the two countries in the disputed Kashmir region.
//ALTAF ACT//
We don't want to expose ourselves once again to
(Indian) charges of mutilation and bad treatment and
maltreatment. We have been bitten once, let me say,
we are shy twice.
//END ACT//
An Indian statement (released by the Indian embassy in
Islamabad) says the repatriation of its soldiers has to be
in keeping with what it calls "the dignity of the soldiers
and without public spectacle."
The Pakistani government says the two Indian soldiers
(Lance Naik Ram Singh and Sepoy Bajinder Singh ) were part
of an Indian army party that tried to capture a Pakistani
military post (in the Shyok-Turtok area) in Kashmir late
last month.
India says the two soldiers disappeared, along with four
others, while on patrol along the "line of control" that
divides the Himalayan region. New Delhi says the fate of
the other soldiers is not yet known. (SIGNED)
NEB/AG/KL
14-Sep-1999 11:20 AM EDT (14-Sep-1999 1520 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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