Pakistan, India swap prisoners

WAGAH—India and Pakistan started a two-day swap of detained illegal fishermen and immigrants including children as part of attempts to improve ties between the nuclear rivals, officials said.
New Delhi released 57 Pakistani nationals many from Indian prisons while Islamabad freed 70 Indian fishermen and others in Pakistani jails and was set to hand them over Saturday to authorities, officials said on Friday. The South Asian rivals often seize each other’s fishermen for violating their respective zones in the Arabian Sea. “Most of them had strayed across the border by mistake,” said a border official who wanted to remain nameless.
The hand over of Pakistani prisoners took place at the border at Wagah in the northern Indian province of Punjab, officials said. They included 30 fishermen and 27 others including three women and three children. The Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen, some of whom have been in jail for two years, but also including 20 children, were released and would be handed over at the same border crossing on Saturday, a Pakistani official said.
“Some 70 fishermen including 20 children were released Friday,” jail chief of the Pakistani province of Sindh, Yameen Khan, told newsmen. “There are still 431 Indian fishermen in Pakistani prisons,” Khan said. The Indian foreign ministry, however, said it was disappointment at the low number released by the Pakistan side.
“India has confirmed the national status of 412 Indian fishermen but is disappointed that Pakistan has decided to release only 50 of them,” it said in a statement, contradicting the numbers given by Pakistani officials. Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers in October last year agreed that fishermen and civilians who strayed across the border should be allowed consular access within three months of their arrest.
The deal and an agreement on swapping prisoners was made within the framework of a peace dialogue launched in January 2004 between the two nuclear-armed states, which have fought three wars, two over Kashmir, since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. Fifty Indian fishermen were released from Landhi Jail Friday afternoon, jail authorities said.
“We have released 50 Indian fishermen from Landhi Jail in the afternoon. They were arrested for fishing illegally in Pakistani waters,” Superintendent Jail Shakir Shah said. He said they were taken in buses from the jail and will be handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah Border on Saturday.
As many as 11 Indian fishermen, who were detained for fishing illegally in Pakistani territorial waters, were handed to police on judicial custody by a court here on Friday. The fishermen were produced before the judicial magistrate west by the Docks police for jail custody. The JM handed them to police on judicial custody.
The fishermen were arrested by Maritime Security Agency (MSA) on Friday along with their three vessels, while fishing in Pakistani territorial waters. The MSA had handed them over the Docks police for an appropriate action.—Agencies