India in talks with Sri Lanka over prisoner exchange: Tharoor

New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) India is in talks with Sri Lanka to bring back Indians languishing in jails there, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said Friday.

But Tharoor underlined that any exchange of prisoners would take time.

'On Indians in Sri Lankan jails, we are talking to Sri Lanka about a possible agreement to exchange prisoners. Will take time,' Tharoor tweeted Friday.

Indians in Sri Lanka's jails allege that Indian officials are unconcerned about their plight.

One of the prisoners told IANS that some of them had spent 16 years in jail and added that Indian authorities were making no efforts to get them released.

According to him, there are 43 Indian prisoners in Sri Lanka -- 28 at Wellikade, 10 in Ngombo and five in Anuradhapura. The convicts are mostly from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.