India repatriates 67 Pakistani detainees in humanitarian move
New Delhi: The Government of India repatriated 48 Pakistani fishermen and 19 civilian prisoners who had served their respective terms in Indian prisons, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed on Tuesday. The detainees were repatriated through the Attari border as part of continued humanitarian and diplomatic initiatives between the two nations, it announced.
The MEA reaffirmed that India gives the highest priority to the well-being and release of Indian citizens imprisoned in Pakistan, and more specifically, fishermen and civilian detainees. The ministry made a statement urging Islamabad to move fast to release and repatriate all Indian prisoners, highlighting that consular access and timely humanitarian intervention continue to be prime areas of concern.
Earlier in the year, the State Minister for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, had told the Upper House of Parliament that 194 Indian or Indian-origin fishermen are still in the custody of Pakistan. Of these, 123 are from Gujarat and have been arrested over several years — 33 in 2021, 68 in 2022, 9 in 2023, and 13 in 2024. The fate of these detainees, some of whom hail from coastal populations, remains a source of concern for policymakers as well as families in India.
To mitigate these grievances, the Indian Mission in Islamabad has been pursuing prompt consular access to detainees through the India-Pakistan Agreement on Consular Access of 2008. Both governments have also set up a ‘Judicial Committee on Prisoners’ with retired judges from both countries to ensure treatment in accordance with international norms and to expedite repatriation. The committee has held seven meetings so far.
The Government of India, through its Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, has also been providing fishermen and their families with welfare measures, legal support, and rehabilitation help. These measures are viewed as a vital part of providing dignity and rights to individuals caught up in cross-border fishing conflicts and jurisdictional issues.
This repatriation comes on the heels of previous instances of coordinated humanitarian gestures. In February 2025, Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency returned 22 Indian fishermen arrested between April 2021 and December 2022 while fishing near Gujarat. Of the repatriated fishermen, 18 were from Gujarat, three from Diu, and one from Uttar Pradesh. As Gujarat is the native state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it has seen major anxiety regarding the well-being of its fishing communities stranded overseas.
