Pak releases 97 Indian fishermen as 'goodwill gesture'

Pakistani prison authorities on Friday released 97 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture, days after peace talks between the nuclear-armed rivals, officials said. The released fishermen have been sent from Karachi to the eastern city of Lahore where they would be handed over to the Indian authorities on Saturday, Yameen Khan, inspector-general prisons of southern Sindh province. "We have released them as a goodwill gesture in the aftermath of the recent talks between the officials of the two countries," Khan said. He said the authorities would also release three more prisoners from Lahore and a total of 100 Indian prisoners would be handed over to the Indian authorities on Saturday. He said out of a total of 473 prisoners in Sindh province, 97 had been released. "We have still 376 Indian prisoners in our custody. All of them are fishermen and no one involved in any criminal activities," Khan said. The South Asian rivals frequently seize each other's fishermen, accusing them of violating their respective zones in the Arabian Sea, before swapping hundreds of them in exchanges. Authorities here estimate more than 100 Pakistani fishermen are languishing in Indian jails. Pakistan and India this week signed a pact to grant consular access to prisoners in each other's jails, the latest step in a continuing four-year peace process.