Wagah, Aug. 25 (ANI): While relations between the two countries are strained along the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan has released 362 Indian fishermen.
The 362 fishermen, who were released on Saturday here, had been jailed for trespassing into Pakistan waters.
Briefing mediapersons, the Sub-Divisional Revenue Officer, Param Preet Singh Goray a said that they had received a total of 362 fishermen, out of a list of 365 submitted by the Pakistan authorities at the outset.
"We have received a list of 365 fishermen but we have received 362 fishermen from the Pakistan's side. We will verify all the documents, and then everything will be clear," said Goray.
Goray had supervised the released fishermen being handed over to the Indian officials by their counterparts at the India-Pakistan border here.
Among the detained fishermen who were released by Pakistan, 10 persons are reported to be minors.
Bharat, a released fisherman, who was happy on returning home, said that it had been seven months since he had been waiting to see his near and dear ones.
"There is no boundary in the sea ; that is why we don't get to know about the border as water keeps on flowing. A small boat caught us and not a big one. It has been seven months now," Bharat said.
Additionally, the released prisoners demanded that the rules needed to be softer for those fishermen, who unintentionally stray beyond the territorial waters.
Relations between the two countries have been strained since August 6, when Pakistani troops ambushed six Indian soldiers along the LoC, in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Since then, Pakistan has violated the ceasefire multiple times along the LoC.
Though Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was slated to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York in the month of September, the multiple violations along the border have cast doubts over the talks going forward. (ANI)
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