India releases 19 Pakistani prisoners

Talk about their ordeal in prison, say there were more Pakistanis being held at the same jail.

LAHORE:

Nineteen Pakistanis released from Indian prisons returned to the country on Tuesday through the Wahga border.

Eighteen of them were fishermen from Thatta. Syed Naqi Naqvi from Khairpur was the 19th. He said he had spent more than two years in an Indian jail.

The prisoners were taken to Edhi Home from where they will return to their homes.

Muhammad Ali, 32, said he and 11 other fishermen were caught by the Indian Navy six months ago after they strayed beyond Pakistan’s territorial waters.

He said that six more fishermen were caught five months ago. He said that they had been tortured and accused of being terrorists.

He said that prison officials’ behaviour had improved after several weeks. “The food we got was of poor quality. Frequently, it had insects in it,” he said. “During our early days in captivity, we would not eat properly.”

Ameer Ahmad, 20, said Indian prison was a bad dream.

He was happy that it was now over. He said he could not describe his ordeal during interrogations. He said he had shared jail time with 29 Bengalis, 17 Sindhis and two Pathans who remained in jail despite having completed their sentences. He said one of the Sindhis called Shahid was mentally imbalanced and had spent more than five years in jail.

An Edhi official said that all the prisoners were in a satisfactory condition. He said that there was one child amongst the prisoners, namely Shahmeer Ahmad, 13.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2012.