Pakistan on Sunday released 172 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture, two days after the Prime Ministers of the two countries decided to resume high-level contacts. “We got the release orders today and we have released the prisoners who will travel to Wagah via train,” Muhammad Sehto, the superintendent at Malir Jail, said. The fishermen had been held at the Malir and landhi District Jail in Karachi for allegedly violating territorial waters in the Arabian Sea. Their release coincided with the much-anticipated World Cup match between Pakistan and India in Adelaide.
Sehto said majority of the fishermen released today were those who had completed their sentences. The release came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif and other heads of the SAARC nations participating in the ICC Cricket World Cup and conveyed best wishes for the showpiece event.
Modi said he would be sending country’s new Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on a ‘SAARC Yatra’ to “further strengthen our ties”. Sehto said another 349 Indians were still in jail in Malir and landhi.