KARACHI: Pakistan freed 179 Indian fishermen on Saturday who were imprisoned for violating territorial waters, the prisons chief said.

“We have released 179 Indian fishermen and a civilian prisoner who had completed their sentences,” prisons chief for southern Sindh province Ghulam Qadir Thebo told AFP.

They were sent to Lahore by bus, where they will cross the Pakistan-India border on Sunday, he said. He added that 360 other Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen, remained in jail.

Pakistan and India frequently seize each other's fishermen, accusing them of violating their respective zones in the Arabian Sea.

Relations between India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, have been plagued by border and resource disputes and accusations of Pakistani militant activity against India.