88 Pak fishermen lodged in Gujarat to leave for Wagah today

As many as 88 Pakistani fishermen will leave for Wagah border on Friday from where they will be handed over to their native country authorities as part of a goodwill gesture, days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to greet him in the holy month of Ramzan.

“These fishermen are in police custody after they were released by a district court. While 82 fishermen were lodged in Dwarka jail, six more fishermen were in a jail in Kutchh after their arrest. There are six minor boys among them who were lodged in a remand home in Dwarka,” Devbhoomi Dwarka SP Jagdish Patel told a news agency.

He said Pakistani authorities have verified that these fishermen are indeed nationals of that country.

Patel said the fishermen will be taken to Jamnagar from where they will be taken to the border.

The relief came in the wake of Modi calling up the Pakistan Prime Minister to wish him on the occasion of Ramzan on June 16 and stressing the need for having “peaceful and friendly” bilateral ties.

Modi had also conveyed to Sharif, India’s decision to release detained Pakistani fishermen on the occasion of Ramzan, a move seen as a bid to lower tensions between the two countries.