200 Indian fishermen released from Pakistan jail reach Gujarat

This is the second batch of Indian fishermen to be released by Pakistan in less than a month. Pakistan had released 198 fishermen, including 184 doom Gujarat, on May 11. The latest batch was released from Landi jail in Karachi last Thursday. With the help of the Edhi Foundation, Karachi, the fishermen had boarded a train to Lahore and from Lahore, they were brought to the Wagah border in buses the next day.

Of the 200 fishermen who arrived in Vadodara, 171 are from Gujarat, 15 from Diu, six from Maharashtra, five from Uttar Pradesh, and three from Bihar, the Gujarat government said in a release on Monday. Of the 171 fishermen from Gujarat, 129 are from the Gir Somnath district, 131 are from Devbhumi Dwarka, five are from Navsari, four are from Porbandar, and two are from Junagadh.

“Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel had constantly coordinated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union (Fisheries) Minister Parshottam Rupala for securing the release of these fishermen. These fishermen have been freed thanks to the diplomatic efforts of the Central government,” added the statement.

These fishermen were arrested by Pakistan over the last three years for allegedly violating its territorial waters.

Pakistan had announced in May that it will release 499 Indian fishermen and one civilian prisoner. The announcement had come when Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was in Goa to participate in the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

Accordingly, the first batch was freed on May 11. Pakistan is likely to release the third batch of 100 fishermen on July 3.