ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan will release 146 fishermen on January 08, 2018, the Foreign Office said on Monday.
In a statement issued in Islamabad, the Foreign Office said that the government of Pakistan today handed over a list of 457 Indian prisoners including 58 civilian and 399 fishermen imprisoned in Pakistan to the High Commission of India in Islamabad.
The Foreign Office said that this step is consistent with the provisions of the Consular Access Agreement between Pakistan and India signed on May 21, 2008, under which both Countries are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each other’s custody twice a year, on January 01 and July 01, respectively.
The Indian government will also hand over the list of Pakistani prisoners to Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.
Earlier on December 29, Pakistan released 145 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture on humanitarian grounds. The released fishermen entered India via Wagah border.
The two neighboring Countries are abiding by the Consular Access Agreement despite the fact that both of them indulged into a fresh series of accusations against each other in reference to a meeting between death-row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav and his family in Islamabad on December 25.
Though Pakistan initiated the process and offered a meeting of Kulbhushan Jadhav with his family but eventually following the end of meeting, a war of words once again began between the two arch rivals.
