Indian Officials Meet Arrested Nationals in Pakistan, Four Years in Detention

Officials from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan met Feroze Ahmad Lone and Noor Muhammad Wani at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. The two Indian nationals, arrested on charges of espionage in Gilgit-Baltistan in 2020, are from Jammu and Kashmir. This meeting followed a request from the Indian government.

Officials from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan met with two Indian nationals, who were arrested on charges of espionage four years ago, at the high-security Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi, media reports said here.

Two youths, 29-year-old Feroze Ahmad Lone and 24-year-old Noor Muhammad Wani, both hailing from the Gorez area of Bandihurah town in Jammu and Kashmir, were arrested in Gilgit-Baltistan, part of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 2020, The Express Tribune newspaper said quoting sources.

"The two Indian nationals were recently transferred to Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail from a prison in Gilgit-Baltistan," the report said.

The consular access was provided at the request of the Indian government, according to sources familiar with the development, it added.

There was no immediate response from either the Indian High Commission here or the Pakistan Foreign Office.

Quoting diplomatic sources, the report said, "A three-member delegation from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad met with the two prisoners at Adiala Jail. Interior Ministry officers were also present during the meeting on Monday.'' According to Indian media, both men had been missing from PoK since November 2018 and sources indicated they had crossed the border illegally and were subsequently arrested on spying charges, the newspaper said.

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