Dozens of Indian fishermen are still imprisoned in Pakistani jails.
Karachi/Ahmedabad: The Pakistan government on Thursday announced the release of 80 Indian citizens from a jail. According to reports, all these people are fishermen and residents of different areas of Gujarat. After receiving the news of Pakistan government releasing all of them, a team of Gujarat government reached Punjab to take them. Giving information about this, officials in Ahmedabad said that the Indian fishermen have been released as part of the ‘current campaign of the Pakistani government to expel illegal foreign immigrants and citizens from the country’.
‘We have given them some money and gifts’
A senior jail official in Karachi said the Indian fishermen have been released by the Allama Iqbal Express train amid heavy security and will be handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah Border after reaching Lahore on Friday. Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Welfare Trust said most of the Indian fishermen are from poor backgrounds and are very happy to return home. Edhi Welfare Trust itself has made arrangements for Indian fishermen to reach Lahore. “They are happy that they will be reunited with their families soon,” he said. We have given them some money and other gifts to take home.
Dozens of fishermen are lodged in jails of both the countries.
Let us tell you that Pakistan and India regularly arrest each other’s fishermen for violating the maritime border. Dozens of fishermen are still lodged in the jails of both the countries who have been accused of violating the maritime boundary. Gujarat Fisheries Commissioner Nitin Sangwan in Ahmedabad said the fishermen would be handed over to the state fisheries department team at the Attari-Wagah border on Friday afternoon. Sangwan said, ‘They are residents of different areas of Gujarat. We will bring them to Gujarat by train.
All 80 fishermen were caught 3 years ago
Jeevan Jungi, member of the national executive of the NGO ‘India Pakistan People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy’, said, ‘These 80 fishermen were caught by Pakistani authorities about three years ago, accusing them of fishing in their country’s territorial waters. They left from Gujarat coast in 2020. According to our records, 173 Indian fishermen are lodged in Pakistani jails. In May and June, the Pakistan government released approximately 400 Indian fishermen who had been arrested under similar charges.
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