Pakistan frees 20 Indian fishermen, dozens still in prison

KARACHI, Pakistan — Pakistan has freed 20 Indian fishermen who spent 4 years in jail within the port metropolis of Karachi for violating the nation’s territorial waters, an official stated Sunday.

The group left the jail and boarded a bus for the japanese metropolis of Lahore carrying sweets and presents handed out by a charity, stated Kamran Ahmed Sheikh, a jail official. He stated they might be handed over to Indian authorities on the Wahgah border crossing.

Sheikh stated there have been nonetheless dozens of Indian fishermen within the jail awaiting launch.

Each India and Pakistan periodically arrest one another’s fishermen for allegedly crossing their maritime border in quest of a greater catch. However either side yearly launch some prisoners after negotiating their launch.

The 2 nuclear armed south Asian neighbors, who gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947, are archrivals primarily due to the disputed Himalayan area of Kashmir. The area is split between India and Pakistan however each declare it in its entirety. Relations between them had been additional strained after India unilaterally abolished the autonomous standing of its a part of Kashmir in August 2019.