KARACHI, Aug 4: Three of the released 22 Pakistani prisoners from Indian jails who were handed over to Pakistani authorities at the Wagah Border in Lahore on July 30 reached their homes in Ibrahim Hyderi here late on Saturday night.

Earlier, 14 of the 22, said to be fishermen hailing from Thatta and Badin and arrested in the Sir Creek area in January, had been brought back to Karachi on July 31 by the Fishermen Cooperative Society. The remaining eight were held in Lahore as they were thought to be common Pakistani prisoners and not fishermen. But it emerged later that three of the eight — Meenh Wasayo, son of Allah Wasayo, and brothers Siddique and Achar, sons of Mohammad Umar, who originally hail from Shah Bundar, Thatta, were fishermen.

“The three fishermen and their boat, Al-Anwer, along with the rest of its crew had gone missing during a cyclone back in May 1999. Later, it was discovered that they had been arrested by the Indians at Sir Creek,” said Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum spokesman Sami Memon. “They were taken away as young men in 1999 and have returned home old and tired with gray hair after fulfilling the process of questioning in Lahore,” he added.

“When they reached home unexpectedly, crowds of friends and relatives thronged their houses to greet them. Two more fishermen who were arrested with them 14 years ago, Hussain Walri and Hanif Murghar, have been fined Rs100,000 each by an Indian court, which these poor fishermen cannot afford to pay, hence they are still languishing in their jails even after completing the tenure of their sentence,” said the spokesman.

Meanwhile, Siddique and Achar were reunited with their mother, Amma Aasi. The old woman has lost her sight but was overjoyed to have her sons back. “One of the two left behind in an Indian jail, Hussain, is Amma Aasi's son-in-law, married to her daughter Sakina, who now sits outside shrines praying for the return of her brothers and husband,” the spokesman said, adding that the family had moved to Karachi's Ibrahim Hyderi where they had more relatives to take care of them after finding it hard to make ends meet there.

“Five years after going missing, the depressed family received a letter from the fishermen from Ahmedabad Jail in India and they have been waiting for their release since then,” said Sami Memon.