Indian police personnel escort Pakistani prisoners before crossing over to Pakistan at the Wagah Border on April 11, 2011. The Indian government in a goodwill gesture released 39 prisoners of Pakistani nationality. – AFP

KARACHI: The Government of Pakistan decided on Monday to release 89 Indian prisoners, reported DawnNews.

According to a statement by the Sindh Home Ministry, IG Jails have been directed to release the prisoners from Landhi Jail on Thursday.

IG Jails told DawnNews that the prisoners being released were those whose sentences had already been completed.

Pakistan’s decision came as a goodwill gesture after India released 39 Pakistani prisoners earlier on Monday.

India released the prisoners, which included two women, less than a week after Islamabad set free an Indian jailed in the country for 23 years.

The Pakistanis were escorted to a border transit post in the northern Indian city of Amritsar from where they left for home.

Border guard officer Lakhbir Singh said the detainees were held in eight separate prisons on charges of either overstaying their visa or illegally crossing into India.