Indian fishermen sit with their belongings at Cantonment railway station in Karachi. (Reuters)
Pakistan has released 220 Indian fishermen as a 'goodwill gesture' on Christmas. They were held for trespassing into Pakistan's territorial waters, a Pakistani official said.
The freed fishermen are expected to cross over into India on Monday.
"We released 220 Indian fishermen today as a goodwill gesture," Deputy Superintendent of Karachi's Malir prison Hassan Sehto told AFP, adding that 219 others still remain in Pakistani custody.
Indian and Pakistani fishermen are frequently detained for illegal fishing since the Arabian Sea border is not clearly defined and many boats lack the technology to fix their precise location.
The fishermen often languish in jail, even after serving their terms, as poor diplomatic ties between the two neighbours mean fulfilling bureaucratic requirements can take a long time.
Relations between the two nations have plummeted since a deadly attack on an Indian army base in the Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in September, which New Delhi believes was carried out by Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries.