Twenty Indian fishermen and other prisoners held in a Pakistani jail for two years walked free after their release by Islamabad yesterday as the nuclear-armed neighbours moved towards defusing tension that almost twice led to war between them last year. From Rahul Bedi in New Delhi.
" I feel like I am being reborn," Mr Gurmeet Singh (25) said after entering India at Wagah, the only official land crossing point between the two sides, 450 km north-west of the capital New Delhi.
"I cannot explain how happy I am," the Sikh farmer from northern Punjab state said, adding that hundreds of prisoners were still being held across Pakistan.
Mr Singh was one of six immigration offenders released along with 14 fishermen who were arrested by the Pakistani authorities in 2001.
" The nightmare is over and I am going to see my family soon," Mr Mohammad Sattar (50), a fisherman from western India's Gujarat state said.
Pakistani guards handed over boxes of traditional sweets to the former prisoners as one by one, they were sent across the border.
" This is a positive initiative," Colonel Haris, the Pakistani paramilitary commander who supervised the handover, said, adding that about 800 Pakistani prisoners remained in Indian jails. However he declined to say how many Indians were interned in Pakistani jails.
Both sides frequently arrest each other's fishermen, forcing them to spend years in jail before releasing them. Neither government has ever provided an exact figure of their nationals being held by the other side, but their number is reportedly significant.
All the 20 released prisoners were originally sentenced to a month in jail, but were not freed due to escalating tensions between the neighbours who have fought three wars and an 11-week border conflict since independence 56 years ago.
Earlier this month, Pakistan said it would free Indian prisoners as a goodwill gesture ahead of possible peace talks between the two.
Both sides will soon reinstate their respective high commissioners, withdrawn after the December 2001 attack on India's parliament which Delhi blamed on Pakistan-backed gunmen. The two countries will also resume air, road and rail links which were also severed at the time.