Ahmedabad: A batch of 100 fishermen were released by Pakistan as a goodwill gesture, reached Wagah border on Monday and will soon leave for Gujarat.
According to fishermen leaders, all the 100 Indian nationals were released from Malir jail in Pakistan’s Karachi are from different villages of Gujarat.
Jivan Jungi, member of Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), confirmed that the 100 Indian fishermen released by Pakistan have reached Wagah border.
“After crossing over to India, the fishermen will take a train from Amritsar for Vadodara and from Vadodara, they will be taken to Veraval town of Gir-Somnath district via bus by state fisheries department. Once they reach, the fishermen will go to their native villages after all formality gets completed by various state agencies. The fishermen are likely to reach Veraval town by Thursday,’’ Jivan Jungi told News18.
Out of the 100 fishermen released by Pakistan, 81 belong to different villages of Gir-Somnath district. Five are from Porbandar, 10 from Diu, two from Bhavnagar, one from Junagadh and one from Ahmedabad. Some of the fishermen had been lodged in Pakistan jails since December 2017.
Pakistan on April 5 had announced that it would release 360 Indian prisoners, of which 355 are fishermen. Pakistan has already released 200 fishermen from its jail in two batches. The third batch of 100 fishermen was released on Monday and the final batch of 60 prisoners which includes 55 fishermen will be released on April 29.
Earlier last week, the mortal remains of a fisherman, who had died in a Pakistani jail last month after a brief illness, arrived in Gujarat for final rites. The deceased fisherman Bhikhabhai Bambhania, 50, a resident of Paldi village in Gujarat’s Gir-Somnath district, had died in Karachi’s Landhi jail on March 4.
Bambhania and other fishermen had ventured into the Arabian Sea and were captured by the Pakistan Marine Security Agency on November 15, 2017, while fishing near international maritime borders.
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