05 January 2017•Update: 05 January 2017
By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
Pakistan on Thursday released another batch of over 200 Indian fishermen languishing in a Pakistani jail for trespassing into its territorial waters, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
“We have released 218 Indian fishermen who had been detained in the past 12 months. They are supposed to be handed over to the Indian authorities at the [northeastern] Wagha border on Friday”, a foreign ministry spokesman told Anadolu Agency.
This is the second batch of Indian fishermen who have been released as a “goodwill gesture” in less than two weeks. Islamabad had released 220 Indian fishermen from a Karachi jail on Dec. 25.
The release was marred by the death of one fisherman of heart attack on Wednesday. His body will be handed over to Indian border authorities on Friday, local media reported quoting unnamed officials.
The fresh move comes amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors since a brazen attack last September on an army base in Indian-held Kashmir that killed 19 Indian soldiers.
Since then, the two sides have been engaged in frequent border clashes that have claimed over 60 lives – both civilians and soldiers – on both sides.
According to Indian media, over 150 Pakistani fishermen currently languishing in Indian jails are also likely to be released soon.
The two countries often arrest fishermen for violating each other's territorial waters due to poorly-marked water boundaries and ill-equipped boats that lack the technology to specify exact locations.
Longstanding strained relations between the two neighbors keep prisoners in jail for longer periods, and in some cases, even after their sentences have been fulfilled.
