80 Gujarat fishermen released from Pakistan jail after 3 years

Ahmedabad, Nov 9 (PTI) Eighty fishermen from different parts of Gujarat were released from a jail in Karachi in Pakistan on Thursday and a state government team from here has reached Punjab to receive them, a senior official said.

They will be handed over to the state fisheries department team at the Attari-Wagah border on Friday afternoon, Gujarat Commissioner of Fisheries Nitin Sangwan said.

"They belong to different parts of Gujarat. We will bring them to the state by train," Sangwan informed.

"These 80 fishermen were caught by Pakistani authorities nearly three years back after accusing them of fishing in waters of that country. They had set sail from Gujarat coast at regular intervals in 2020. As per our records, there are 173 Indian fishermen languishing in Pakistani jails," said Jivan Jungi, national executive committee member of India-Pakistan People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, an NGO.

In May and June, the Pakistan government had released nearly 400 Indian fishermen who were arrested under such charges. PTI