India asks Indonesia to take urgent steps to repatriate detained sailors

India on Tuesday asked Indonesia to "urgently" repatriate Indian seafarers, who have been detained on board commercial vessels in the archipelagic nation.

Eighty-seven Indian sailors were reportedly detained in February by the Indonesian authorities for "illegal anchoring" in its territorial water.

Indonesian officials have "assured to accord the matter high priority in view of humanitarian aspect and excellent bilateral relations" during the 1st India-Indonesia consular dialogue held in Yogyakarta, according to a statement issued by the Indian Embassy here.

The Indian delegation was led by Sanjiv Arora, Secretary of Consular, Passport and Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs in the Ministry of External Affairs, while the Indonesian delegation was led by Dr Andri Hadi, Director General for Protocol and Consular Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the interaction, Arora "requested the Indonesian side, inter alia, to take necessary measures urgently to permit Indian crew, who have been detained on board commercial vessels, to return to India", the statement said.

"He handed over an aide memoire to the Director General Dr Andri Hadi, who assured to accord this matter high priority in view of humanitarian aspect and excellent bilateral relations," it added.

The dialogue also focussed on ensuring well being of Indian and Indonesian prisoners and facilitating mechanisms to ensure smooth and regular consular access.

Both the sides also agreed to take steps to further facilitate, expand and strengthen people-to-people contacts in diverse areas that underpin the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP) between the two countries.

The 1st consular dialogue was held in the framework of the bilateral CSP established during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Indonesia in May 2018.