Children detained in Pak return home next week

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in New Delhi

The 38 children detained in Pakistan for the last two years after being found fishing in Pakistani waters are finally coming home.

The ministry of external affairs is sending a group of officials next week to Karachi to bring them over.

Home ministry sources said the Pakistan government was making a humanitarian gesture prior to the bilateral talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan between March 28 and 31.

The children were caught fishing in Pakistani waters two years ago and were detained by the Pakistani authorities near the coast of Gujarat. The issue was to be considered after the talks ended, but now the Pakistani government has decided to release them as a humanitarian gesture. It is not clear whether the children will be sent to their home towns in Gujarat or to New Delhi.

The exclusive fishing zone of both India and Pakistan is 200 km from the sea shore. These children did not know they had crossed into Indian waters and were caught by the Pakistanis. Though outsiders are usually returned to their country, the strained relations prompted the Pakistanis to send these children to Abdul Sattar Edhi's trust in Karachi.