New Delhi, Apr 17: A total of 641 Indians, including 436 fishermen, are languishing in different Pakistani jails, the government said on Thursday.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Rajya Sabha while replying to a written question that the government has consistently taken up with Islamabad, including at the highest level, the issue of Indians in custody in Pakistan.

In reply to another question, he said 74 missing defence personnel, including 54 since 1971, are believed to be in Pakistani jails.

He said lists of prisoners have been exchanged by the two governments on March 31 and are under study.

"India expects the government of Pakistan to implement the recommendations of the Judicial Committee (comprising judges from India and Pakistan) to release and provide consular access to all detained fishermen and prisoners," Mukherjee said.

"The prolonged incarceration of our nationals in jails in Pakistan is a matter of grave concern to the government of India," he said.

Mukherjee said in the absence of consular access to many fishermen and other prisoners, it was not possible to determine the details of sentences awarded.

Visas to 1.1 lakh Pak nationals

In keeping with the growing warmth in Indo-Pak relations, there has been a drastic increase in the number of visas issued to Pakistani nationals by India over the last few years and the number went up from over 8,000 in 2003 to more than one lakh in 2007. In 2003, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had issued visas to 8,390 Pakistani nationals and the number went up by many times to 62,541 in 2004, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Thursday. The number further went up to 90,663 in 2005, 92,334 in 2006. In 2007, 1,14,937 visas were issued by India to Pakistani people, according to the figures presented in the House.