Pakistan on Saturday released 180 Indian prisoners, 179 fishermen and a civilian as a New Year gift for Indian fishermen.
After release, they boarded two buses to travel to Lahore for their handover to Indian officials on Sunday at the Wagah Border.
“Even after the release of these prisoners, 276 other Indian fishermen will remain in Pakistani jails. Of these, 83 have already served their sentence but cannot be released because their nationality has not yet been confirmed by Indian authorities,” said Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, a retired Supreme Court judge and current chairman of Pakistani government’s Committee for Welfare of Prisoners.
A year ago, India released 121 Pakistani fishermen and 97 civilians, said an official of India’s external affairs ministry (MEA). Currently, there are 29 Pakistani fishermen in Indian prisons.
A year ago, India’s home secretary and Pakistan’s interior secretary decided to set up a task force with two members each from Pakistan and India. Pakistan has already nominated its members but India is yet to do so.
MEA officials, however, said that neither India nor Pakistan wanted to detain fishermen from the other country. “Once they cross the border, the legal process begins. The process of verifying nationalities involves visiting a fisherman’s village to confirm his identity. Often the addresses given are incomplete or very remote. It may take a long time to get there,” said an MEA official. It is difficult for fishermen to figure out when they have crossed their country’s waters, especially since they do not have sophisticated navigation systems. “The International Maritime Border is not well-defined between India and Pakistan,” said the official.
