In what can be seen as a good omen ahead of Indian PM-elect Narendra Modi’s inaugural ceremony, two neighboring countries of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, released Indian fishermen on Sunday as a goodwill measure.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered the release of all Indian fishermen arrested by the Lankan Navy for poaching. Sri Lankan fisheries ministry officials, however, could not indicate the number of Indian fishermen currently in detention.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif instructed that 151 Indian prisoners currently detained in Pakistani jails and 57 Indian fishing boats in Pakistan’s custody should be released as a goodwill gesture before Sharif’s visit to India to attend Modi’s inaugural ceremony.
Sources said that the 59 Indian prisoners freed from Malir Jail, Karachi and 92 from Nara Jail, Hyderabad on Sunday were sent in air-conditioned buses to Lahore, where Pakistani authorities will hand them over to Indian officials at the Wagah/Attari border on Monday.
Malir Jail Superintendent Syed Nazir Hussain said that the Indian prisoners were released on written directives of the interior and foreign ministries.
“Most of these prisoners are poor Indian fishermen who were arrested and brought here for trespassing into Pakistani territorial waters,” he said.
The freed Indian fishermen expressed their gratitude to Pakistani authorities for providing them all necessary facilities, including good food and healthcare in prisons.
“We were treated well and not as serious criminals,” one prisoner said.
The freed prisoners said that they are happy over their release and appealed to the Indian government to release Pakistani fishermen present in Indian prisons.
Fishermen from both countries are routinely arrested and their boats seized by maritime security forces in both countries when they accidentally trespass territorial waters jurisdictions.
A non-government organisation (NGO) headed by Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid has borne the traveling and other expenses of the freed fishermen’s return home. “The government has cooperated completely in the release of prisoners,” said Zahid.
Pakistan is releasing all those fishermen whose status as Indian nationals has been confirmed by Indian authorities.
Handing over of the boats is also being coordinated with the Indian government. This is the first time in many years that any side has decided to release the confiscated boats of these fishermen and it is Pakistan that has decided to take the first step.
MODI WELCOMES INDIAN FISHERMEN: Welcoming the goodwill gesture of India’s neighbors, Modi posted on microblogging website Twitter, “I welcome the step by Sri Lanka and Pakistan to release our fishermen. I welcome our fishermen brothers back home!”
In March, Rajapaksa had ordered the release of arrested fishermen after India abstained from voting on an anti-Sri Lanka motion at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. India was one of the 12 nations that abstained from voting on the UNHRC resolution, which prescribed an international probe into Sri Lanka’s alleged rights abuses. India had previously backed two similar resolutions against Sri Lanka moved by the United States.
GOVT HOPES PAKISTANI FISHERMEN WILL BE RELEASED:
In August 2013, Pakistan released around 337 Indian prisoners from jails. Later, on the occasion of Diwali, 15 Indian fishermen were released as a goodwill gesture.
According to Indian activists, at present around 229 Indian fishermen and about 780 Indian boats are in Pakistan’s custody.
Around 23 boats of Indian fishermen had been confiscated during the present fishing season.
Pakistan has always declared that the issue of such prisoners is a humanitarian one and should be taken in that spirit.
According to compiled figures, there are 521 Pakistani prisoners in India, including 168 fishermen as well as 150 boats. The government of Pakistan hopes that they too will be able to return to their loved ones in Pakistan soon.
