As part of goodwill gesture, 88 jailed fishermen to be handed over to Pakistan on Friday

Vadodara: As many as 88 Pakistani fishermen will leave for Wagah border on Tuesday from where they will be handed over to their native country authorities as part of a goodwill gesture, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to greet him in the holy month of Ramzan.

“These fishermen are in police custody after they were released by a district court. While 82 fishermen were lodged in Dwarka jail, six more fishermen were in a jail in Kutchh after their arrest. There are six minor boys among them who were lodged in a remand home in Dwarka,” Devbhoomi Dwarka SP Jagdish Patel told PTI.

He said Pakistani authorities have verified that these fishermen are indeed nationals of that country.

Patel said the fishermen will be taken to Jamnagar from where they will be taken to the border.

The relief came in the wake of Modi calling up the Pakistan Prime Minister to wish him on the occasion of Ramzan on June 16 and stressing the need for having “peaceful and friendly” bilateral ties.

Modi had also conveyed to Sharif, India’s decision to release detained Pakistani fishermen on the occasion of Ramzan, a move seen as a bid to lower tensions between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Fisheries minister Babubhai Bokharia has welcomed the release of 113 Indian fishermen who were lodged in a Karachi jail as part of the goodwill gesture.

Senior vice-president of Gujarat Fishermen Association Veljibhai Masani said governments of India and Pakistan should have released all fishermen lodged in their respective jails, on the humanitarian ground.

A court in Dwarka district had yesterday ordered release of 76 of these fishermen after the Gujarat government withdrew case of trespass against them.

Magistrate VD Jambusar passed the order. Assistant public prosecutor YL Sudra today said that government had informed the court that these under-trial prisoners were small-time fishermen from Pakistan who will not be prosecuted further and should be released.

The court then allowed the government to withdraw the case against them.

PTI