Two Indians arrested in Pakistan, MEA reaction awaited

Two Indian nationals were apprehended by the Pakistan police, in the eastern city of Bahawalpur in Punjab province, allegedly without proper documents and a case has been registered against them, reports Senior Journalist Smita Sharma.

New Delhi:In what could lead to further diplomatic confrontation between New Delhi and Islamabad, the Pakistan police have claimed to have arrested two Indian nationals on Monday, for allegedly trying to enter the Cholistan area, illegally, without passport and visa.

The duo was apprehended in the eastern city of Bahawalpur in Punjab province, reportedly without proper documents and a case was registered against them, local police said.

According to the documents accessed by ETV Bharat, Prashant Vaindam from Hyderabad and Wari Lal from Madhya Pradesh were arrested on November 14.

Sources say that the barbed wire near the Indo-Pak border along Rajasthan is sometimes invisible; when the Thar desert is hit by speedy whirlwinds and also when the sand dunes shift.

They added that in the past there have been instances when some nationals from the neighbouring countries have crossed the border ‘inadvertently’, which cannot be ruled out in this latest case too.

The Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi is yet to react to the recent developments in this case.

The apprehended nationals have been reportedly charged under section 334-4 of Pakistan Act, 1952 according to the FIR lodged by local police.

The FIR copy reads:

On receiving information from sources, police arrested two suspicious foreigners present in the desert. Police arrested both foreigners. They have been identified as Prashant from Hyderabad and Wari Lal from Madhya Pradesh with neither a passport nor visa.

The arrest was made at 8 pm on November 14, 2019.

Two Indians Arrested in Pakistan

Earlier in August, police in Pakistan's Punjab province claimed to have arrested an alleged 'Indian Spy' in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan and handed over him to a premier intelligence agency.

The alleged 'Indian Spy', identified as Raju Lakshman, was arrested while entering the town from Balochistan province, the same province where Pakistan claimed it arrested Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Jadhav, 49, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of 'espionage and terrorism' in April 2017, following which India had moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking a stay on his death sentence and further remedies.

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