Pakistan has released 20 Indian fishermen, who were in custody for unknowingly having crossed over to this side of the country, on completion of their sentences said the Foreign Office.

The fishermen were repatriated via Wagah Border to India on January 24, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Tuesday.

“The issue of prisoners is of humanitarian nature and Pakistan expects the Government of India to reciprocate the gesture in the same spirit,” it read.

Dawn on Monday reported that the fishermen were in jail between three to five years and they had no idea that their fishing boats had drifted into Pakistan waters.

A spokesperson of the Edhi Foundation said the fishermen were handed over to India’s Border Security Force in the evening after meeting the legal formalities, India Today reported.

“The 20 fishermen who were released from the District Prison and Correctional Facility, Malir, on Sunday and brought to Wagah on Monday were handed over to the BSF in the evening after meeting the legal formalities,” Muhammad Younis, a spokesperson of the Edhi Foundation, told Press Trust of India.