Agencies/Srinagar

A Pakistani prisoner who was arrested by authorities in India for trespassing more than two years ago has been found hanging inside a jail in Indian Kashmir, an official said yesterday.     
Showkat Ali, 42, a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, had been lodged in a jail in Amphala, about 300 km from the region’s main city of Srinagar, since December 2011.
He was arrested on charges of illegally crossing the de facto border between the two rival countries.
“An inmate informed the jail authorities last (Friday) night that Showkat was hanging from the grill of a toilet in the barracks,” jail superintendent Harish Kotwal said.
“He was hanging by a scarf and after he was brought down, the jail doctor declared him dead,” Kotwal said.
The incident will be investigated by a magistrate and formalities for handing over his body to Pakistani authorities have begun, another police officer said.  
Last May, a Pakistani prisoner died of his injuries after he was savagely beaten by fellow convicts in another jail in Indian Kashmir, leading to calls for an international probe into his death.
His death followed a similar assault on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail. A high profile convict, Singh had been on the death row for more than 21 years.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir contacted Indian authorities to get a detailed report about the death of the prisoner.
“Yes, I heard about this incident through media and we are now in contact with Indian authorities to get more details,” Bashir told Dawn.
Foreign Office spokesman Tasneem Aslam said that Islamabad has demanded that all of its prisoners who have completed their sentences should be released on humanitarian grounds.
“We have asked our high commission in India to furnish us with more details about the incident,” the spokesperson said.
Aslam expressed concern over the plight of Pakistani prisoners in India and claimed that they face so much pressure that either they lose their senses or commit suicide.
Ali was reportedly suffering from some mental ailment and was lodged in the jail following court orders.