Pakistan releases 20 Indian fishermen from Karachi jail
This is the second batch of fishermen to be released by Pakistan after an equal number of fishermen were repatriated in January this year.
Twenty fishermen from Gujarat were released from a Karachi jail by Pakistan on Sunday, after their prison term ended. Authorities said they are likely to be handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah border in Punjab on Monday.
“Pakistan has today released 20 fishermen of Gujarat and they are likely to cross over to India via Wagah border on Monday. A team of our officers has left for Punjab today to receive the fishermen. Once all formalities are completed, they will be brought to Gujarat from Punjab by train,” a senior officer of fisheries department of Gujarat told The Indian Express.
This is the second batch of fishermen to be released by Pakistan after an equal number of fishermen were repatriated in January this year.
As the 20 fishermen were released from District Prison and Correctional Facility in Malir, Karachi on Sunday morning, they were greeted by volunteers of Edhi Foundation, an NGO in Pakistan and were given gifts. The fishermen later boarded a bus of Edhi Foundation which took them to Lahore city on the Pakistan side of the Indo-Pakistan border. They will cross over to India via Attari border crossing at Wagah border near Amritsar in Punjab.
Of the 20 who have been released, 13 are native of Gir Somnath district of Gujarat, six from Devbhumi Dwarka and one from Jamnagar—both districts of Gujarat.
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