Pakistan on Monday released 60 more Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen who were jailed for fishing illegally in the country’s territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, local media reported.
355 FISHERMEN WERE IN PRISON
The fishermen were released as a goodwill gesture and handed over to the Indian authorities at the northeastern Wagha border crossing, according to local broadcaster Geo News. This is the fourth and last batch of Indian fishermen released this month. Earlier this month, Pakistan had announced it would release 355 Indian fishermen and five other prisoners languishing in its jails in four phases.
Hailed by peace activists, the move comes amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors following air raids in February. The two countries often arrest fishermen for violating each other’s seawaters due to poorly marked water boundaries and ill-equipped boats that lack the technology to specify exact locations.
Longstanding strained relations between the two neighbors keep prisoners in jail for long periods, and in some cases, even after their sentences have been served.