Pakistan releases 55 Indian fishermen

Pakistan freed today 55 Indian fishermen as a “goodwill gesture” on occasion of India’s Independence Day. The release is part of an understanding between the two countries to free citizens who enter each other’s waters by mistake. “Some 55 Indian fishermen have been released from our jail on the instructions of the government,” superintendent of Malir district prison in Karachi Nazeer Husain Shah said. “Those released include 15 teenage boys,” he added. The Indians were sent to Lahore, from where they would reach their country’s authorities through the Wagah border. Ayaz Soomro, law minister for Sindh, said the releases were “a goodwill gesture”. “We hope our neighbours reciprocate in the same spirit and release Pakistani prisoners from their jails,” he said. Officials say 100 Indian fishermen are still in Pakistani jails and 250 Pakistanis in Indian prisons.