Pakistan releases 100 Indian prisoners as tensions ease

Reuters - Pakistan on Sunday (April 7) released 100 Indian prisoners as the nuclear-armed neighbours scale back from a confrontation that prompted world powers to urge restraint. The fishermen, released from various jails in Karachi, are being transported to Lahore in a train, from where they will be handed over to India via the Wagah border crossing on Monday (April 8). Tension has been running high since a suicide car bombing by Pakistan-based militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police on Feb. 14, but the risk of conflict rose dramatically on Feb. 27, when India launched an air strike on what it said was a militant training base. The following day Pakistan shot down an Indian fighter jet and captured its pilot who was later released. Mohammad Faisal, the spokesman for the Pakistan Foreign Office, told reporters on Friday (April 5) that Pakistan had decided that 360 Indian prisoners would be released in four batches starting from April 8. The 360 include 355 fishermen and five civilians, who have completed their term of sentence, Faisal said. Due to the rocky relations between the two sides, prisoners who have completed their jail terms often languish in each other's jails for months, if not years, afterward.