By IANS,
Ahmedabad : Ninety-six Indian fishermen, who were freed by Pakistan from its jails, arrived Tuesday at Ahmedabad railway station.
Fisheries Minister Dilip Sanghani and Minister of State Purushottam Solanki were present.
The fishermen were released after spending 28 months in Pakistan jails. About 412 fishermen are still languishing in Pakistani jails.
Most of the fishermen – 47 – released are from Junagadh, followed by Diu 33, Valsad 4, Porbandar 2, Uttar Pradesh 6, Haryana 1, Bihar 1 and Maharashtra 2. These fishermen were caught by Pakistani security forces in February 2006.
Sanghani told the fishermen about the state government efforts to see that such incidents do not recur. Soon the fishermen’s boats would be fitted with GPS to help them prevent from inadvertently straying into Pakistan territorial waters, he said.
Though the fishermen were handed over to the Indian authorities at the Wagha border post Saturday, their scheduled arrival at Veraval was delayed due to cancellation of trains runnibng through Rajasthan.