The Hindu : National : Pakistan releases 101 Indian prisoners

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Pakistan releases 101 Indian prisoners

— Photo: AFP

Goodwill gesture: Indian fishermen being released from a prison in Karachi on Tuesday.

Islamabad: Pakistan has released 101 Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen, as a goodwill gesture as the crucial meeting between the Home Secretaries of the countries got under way on Tuesday.

As talks between Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and his Pakistani counterpart Syed Kamal Shah began here, authorities freed 99 Indian fishermen from a jail in the southern port city of Karachi and two prisoners from another jail in Karachi.

Send back on buses

The fishermen, arrested between 2002 and 2006, were put on two buses and will return through the Wagah border on Wednesday, officials said.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik had earlier asked India to reciprocate the gesture.

He claimed hundreds of Pakistanis were in Indian prisons and should be freed at the earliest.

According to leading Pakistani rights activist Ansar Burney, the two prisoners had completed their prison terms. “There are many other Indian prisoners who have completed their sentences but are still in jail. I have also taken up their case with the authorities,” he said.

India recently freed 29 Pakistani prisoners who had completed their jail terms. — PTI

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