ISLAMABAD, 13 September 2005 — India and Pakistan exchanged 587 prisoners yesterday at Wagah border post in presence of top officials of the two sides.
Pakistan handed over 435 Indian prisoners to Indian officials as a goodwill gesture, while India reciprocated by releasing 152 Pakistani prisoners to Pakistan as part of their peace process. Freed prisoners were greeted with hugs and garlands from relatives and friends at the border crossing.
Amid emotional scenes, hundreds of people thronged either side of the Wagah border post, between the cities of Lahore in Pakistan and Amritsar in India, hoping that relatives would be among those being released.
“My brother is coming back after 11 years. I am very happy,” said a woman carrying a black-and-white picture of her brother on the Indian side of the border, while a crowd on the Pakistani side sang nationalist songs.
Pakistan released 435 Indian prisoners while Indian freed 152 Pakistanis, some as young as 12 years. In March, Pakistan released more than 500 Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen. The latest mass release came two days before a meeting between Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York.
Meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the two leaders are expected to seek ways to advance a peace process begun in January, 2004, but has still to make substantive progress on a core dispute over the divided territory of Kashmir.
“My release has become possible due to the efforts of the media and my sister, who approached human rights organizations,” said Mohammad Babar after spending 15 years in an Indian jail.
The South Asian neighbors routinely arrest each others’ nationals, mostly civilians or fishermen who have either strayed across land or maritime borders or violated their visas.
“We have no other way of making a living except fishing, so we have to take risks,” Vallabh, a 53-year-old from the western Indian state of Gujarat, told Reuters as he got ready to go home after six months in a Pakistani jail.
But even as one batch was being released, 24 Indian fishermen were arrested on Sunday for illegally entering into Pakistani territorial waters in the Arabian Sea.
“We have arrested 24 Indian fishermen and seized their four boats for violating our maritime zone,” Maritime Security Agency spokesman Ateequr Rehman said. Pakistani authorities have said they would swiftly release Indian fishermen arrested for sailing into its waters in future, but impound their boats. —Additional input from Reuters.
