184 fishermen reach Gujarat after release from Pakistani jail
The fishermen, who were lodged in Pakistani jails, were released and handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border in Punjab on May 13
A total of 184 fishermen from Gujarat, who were released by Pakistani authorities last week, reached Vadodara on Monday morning by a train from Punjab, the state government said.
These fishermen were caught by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) nearly four years ago from the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) near Gujarat coast in the Arabian Sea, claiming they had crossed the notional border and entered Pakistani waters, the government said in a release.
In all, Pakistan released 198 Indian fishermen last week.
The fishermen arrived in Vadodara on Monday by train from Punjab and were welcomed by the Gujarat Fisheries Minister Raghavji Patel and other officials.
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The release added that local authorities had sent the fishermen to their respective destinations in four buses.
The fishermen, who were lodged in Pakistani jails, were released and handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border in Punjab on May 13, the release stated.
Out of the 184 fishermen from Gujarat, 152 are from Gir Somnath district, 22 from Devbhumi Dwarka, five from Porbandar and one each from Junagadh, Jamnagar, Kutch, Valsad and Navsari.
In March, the Gujarat government informed the legislative assembly that 560 fishermen from the state were languishing in Pakistani jails, with 274 of them having been apprehended in the previous two years.
The Gujarat government made representations in the past to the Centre to secure the release of these fishermen.
