Pakistan govt frees 113 Indian fishermen

Freed Indian fishermen wait for transport at Landhi jail

KARACHI:

Pakistani authorities released 113 Indian fishermen from the Malir prison as a goodwill gesture on Thursday, jail officials said.

Mohammad Hasan, the deputy superintendent at the Malir jail, told The Express Tribune that the Indian fishermen were freed on Thursday afternoon. “The fishermen had been in the prison for the past nine months,” he said. Ten out of the 113 inmates are Muslim.

Following their release the number of Indian fishermen housed in the same jail has fallen to 361.

The fishermen were taken to the Cantt rail station from where they departed for Lahore via the Karakoram Express. Once in Lahore, they will travel to the Wagah border from where they will be sent across the border.

The fishermen were facilitated by the Edhi Foundation, and all its travelling expenditures were shared by them, said its spokesperson Anwar Kazmi. According to him, the organisation has now been sending fishermen via train to Lahore unlike the past where they would board a bus to go to Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2015.