Pakistan to release 146 Indian fishermen on Jan 8

ISLAMABAD: With the start of new year, Pakistan and India exchanged lists of their nationals, including fishermen, languishing in each other’s prisons, ARY News reported on Monday.

The Foreign Office in Islamabad said that a list containing the names of 457 Indian inmates incarcerated in Pakistan’s prisons has been provided to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Of the total, 399 are fishermen while 58 are common citizens.

The Foreign Office has said that Pakistan will release 146 Indian fishermen on January 08.

Sources said India has also provided the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi a similar list of Pakistani nationals languishing in Indian prisons.

The two countries exchange details of the nationals in their respective jails twice a year – on 1^st Jan and 1^ST July – under a counselor agreement signed between the two countries in 2008.

Ties between India and Pakistan remained tense this year with the heavily militarized Line of Control (LoC), dividing the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir between the two countries, so often witnessing skirmishes and ceasefire violations.

India breached the ceasefire on the LoC on more than 1300 occasions this year, which led to over 50 civilian casualties and more than two hundred others sustained injuries.