Burney said the Indian prisoner named Surjit Singh was arrested in 1971 and his family had been searching for him since then.

Singh had completed his jail term in December last year, he said.
"Earlier, Surjit Singh was sentenced to death but his sentence was later converted into life imprisonment," said Burney, a former federal minister for human rights.

Burney said he had sent petitions to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to release and repatriate Singh to India on humanitarian grounds.
Indian organisations have said that 54 Indian prisoners of war captured during the 1971 conflict are believed to be in Pakistani prisons.

Pakistani authorities claim they have been unable to trace any of these prisoners.