India, Jan. 3 -- As the world looks forward to the new year enthusiastically and with hope, there are a set of innocent people trapped in jails of India and Pakistan, languishing for years for a rather innocuous crime - crossing the border and being caught for straying into another country. Every year, hundreds of fishermen and people mistakenly cross the border, only to be nabbed and put into jails. Sometimes it is years before they are released; the less fortunate never make it, though they are no security threat, their fate sealed by India-Pakistan hostility and bureaucratic paperwork.

Every year, as India and Pakistan exchange lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen on January 1, under the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access. These l...