Pakistan releases 89 Indian prisoners
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Pakistan Thursday released 89 Indian prisoners amid resumption of official talks for the first time since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, officials said.
The prisoners were freed from a prison in the south port city of Karachi and they were boarded in buses for the eastern city of Lahore to be handed over to the Indian authorities at the Wahga on Friday.
The freed Indian fishermen and civilian prisoners included in the Indian list were handed over to Pakistan during the Interior/ Home Secretaries meeting in New Delhi last month, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Indian side freed 39 Pakistani prisoners on April 11 from the list that Pakistan had given to India during the meeting.
Indian prisoners were released at a time when defense officials of the two countries are scheduled to meet in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday for the first time in four years to discuss some key issues.
The issues include the determination of the waters boundaries and Siachin Glacier, the world highest battle field, sources said.
Pakistan and India still hold hundreds of prisoners, mostly fishermen who are caught while entering territorial waters of the other country.
The issue of prisoners was one of the major issues in the Interior Secretary-level talks held in New Delhi in late March, the first formal talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Commerce secretaries of the two countries are scheduled to meet in April to discuss promotion of bilateral trade, officials said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani also visited India at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh to watch a Cricket match between the rival teams in late March.
