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
.