LAHORE, April 19: India on Tuesday returned 156 fishermen, including six children and boys, to Pakistan, and handed them over to the Pakistan Rangers at Wagah. The release is part of the latest initiatives taken by President Musharraf to strengthen ongoing peace process between the two countries. The fishermen were set free from Indian prisons on Sunday when President Musharraf was busy holding peace talks in Delhi.

Pakistan on March 22 had sent home 564 Indian prisoners three days after Indian Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had accompanied 23 prisoners with him on his return to Chandigarh on conclusion of his three-day visit to Pakistan. On April 14, India had returned 24 Pakistani prisoners.

Those returned by India on Tuesday belonged to Sindh, who had been in Indian jails for two to six years on charges of illegally fishing into Indian waters.

Officials of a Karachi-based body, which deals in arrests and release of fishermen, had arrived to greet the fishermen at the border.

Included among the prisoners was 11-year-old Ameer Husain, who told reporters that he had gone for fishing with his uncle when the Indian authorities held him. “I remained in Indian prisons for more than one and a half year. It was hell. I had never thought of going through such an ordeal.”

Zameer Baloch, another fisherman, said he had almost forgotten the faces of his family

members during three years in jails.

“I ask the leadership of both the countries to end all differences and do maximum for promoting peace in this region.”

The prisoners were then bundled into prison vans by the Pakistani authorities, and were taken to a jail for questioning by various law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

According to the interior ministry, there were 241 Pakistani fishermen and 166 other civilian prisoners still in Indian jails.