March, 22 2005	Tuesday	11 Safar 1426

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LAHORE, March 21: Pakistan on Tuesday is scheduled to hand over 589 prisoners to India via Wagah border crossing. The Punjab government said on Monday that the prisoners were being returned as part of the latest goodwill gestures to fortify the ongoing peace process.

Mainly fishermen, who had been caught on charges of entering illegally into Pakistani waters in Arabian Sea, the Indian prisoners had been in Pakistani jails for years. The prisoners had been brought to the Punjab from Sindh and Balochistan and kept in Kot Lakhpat jail for clarification of their whereabouts and documents. Of the total, 532 have been brought from Sindh jails, and the rest from Balochistan.

The government said the prisoners would be returned in a ceremony chaired by Punjab Law Minister Raja Muhammad Bisharat at Wagah. A Punjab prison official said some of such prisoners might be coming to Pakistan from other side of the border on Tuesday (today) or in a couple of days.