Pakistan releases 183 Indian fishermen

Pakistan on Sunday released 163 Indian fishermen held for violating its territorial waters as a goodwill gesture amid tensions over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir and an attack on a police station.

The release comes in the wake of an understanding between Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Russian Federation.

The two arch nuclear rivals often arrest each other’s fishermen due to poorly marked sea boundaries and a lack of latest technology aboard fishermen boats.

The Indian fishermen are likely to be handed over to the Indian officials at the Wahga border on Monday. The fishermen, who had been kept in a Karachi jail for nine months to a year, were put on a train bound for Lahore from where they will cross back to their home country.

The released fishermen were given gifts and cash by welfare agencies and the provincial government to assist them in their return to India.

According to sources, the government of Pakistan, out of goodwill, took the decision to release Indian fishermen from captivity.