Union Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that 74 missing Indian defence personnel are believed to be in Pakistani custody. In a written reply to a question, Singh said that Islamabad was not acknowledging the missing personnel’s presence in the country despite the Indian government raising the issue on several occasions, PTI reported.

“A committee of kin of the missing defence personnel visited jails in Pakistan in 2007, but could not find evidence of their presence,” the minister said. “However, the [Indian] government continues to raise this matter with the government there,” he added. There are currently 208 Indians – 61 civilian prisoners and 147 fishermen – in Pakistani jails, Singh said.

On February 2, Singh had told the Upper House that a total of 1,566 Indian fishermen had been released from Pakistani and Sri Lankan jails in the last two years. Between December 2016 and January, Pakistan released a total of 447 fishermen as part of a “goodwill gesture”. Many of the fishermen had been in jail for over a year.