ISLAMABAD - Pakistan will soon free 700 Indian fishermen and civilian prisoners after President Pervez Musharraf ordered their release on humanitarian grounds, the foreign office said Monday.
The move is one of a series of peace gestures between the nuclear-armed rivals, who often arrest fishermen for straying into each other's territorial waters or villagers who inadvertently cross land borders.
Islamabad was preparing to free the men after New Delhi confirmed the national status of 630 fishermen and of about 70 civilian prisoners, foreign office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told a weekly press briefing.
"The process of their release has already been initiated and they will be released soon," he said.
General Musharraf last week recommended that 800 Indian fishermen should be freed after completing legal formalities, and ordered the release of nearly 150 civilians, including 31 Indian Sikhs held after crossing from Iran.
The military leader intervened after an appeal by visiting Indian communist leaders.
During the last two years India and Pakistan have striven to patch up their differences after a half-century of tensions, mainly over Kashmir. The disputed Himalayan territory has sparked two of the their three wars.
After coming close to their fourth war in 2002 they agreed to restore severed road, rail and air links as well as sporting ties, and Pakistan's cricket team have just embarked on their first tour of India in six years.
03/07/2005 12:39 GMT