India returns dozens of prisoners to Pakistan
PAKISTAN: India on Tuesday repatriated dozens of Pakistani prisoners
who had been detained for visa irregularities, officials said, amid
simmering tensions between the two sides over the Mumbai attacks.
The 66 prisoners including 10 women and several children re-entered
Pakistan at the Wagah border crossing near the eastern city of Lahore,
an AFP reporter witnessed.
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66 prisoners including 10 women
and several children re-entered Pakistan at the Wagah border
crossing near the eastern city of Lahore an AFP reporter said
|
“We have received 66 Pakistani nationals who had been detained in
Indian prisons for the last eight to 10 months for visa tampering,”
interior ministry official Ghulam Mohammad told AFP.
“Only one teenaged boy who was to come from a Mumbai prison did not
arrive, for reasons best known to the Indian side,” he said. The
Pakistanis were allowed to return home after officials questioned them
and registered their details. Some told AFP their travel agents were to
blame for the visa irregularities.
Hundreds of Indians and Pakistanis are languishing in prisons on both
sides of the border on charges of spying or illegal entry.
The South Asian rivals also frequently seize each other’s fishermen
and their boats for violating their respective maritime boundaries in
the Arabian Sea.
WAGAH, Wednesday, AFP |
