The fishermen at Ahmedabad station on Sunday. (Reuters)

Ahmedabad, April 17: In the backdrop of President Pervez Musharraf'?s visit to India, 156 Pakistani fishermen languishing in jails in Jamnagar and Kutch districts of Gujarat were released today.

Two children, 10 and 12, were among those released.

The move is seen as part of confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan.

The released fishermen left for home by the Jammu Tawi Express from Ahmedabad and are expected to reach Jalandhar tomorrow around noon. From there, they will board another train to reach Amritsar by 6 pm. They will then be escorted to the Attari border and handed over to Pakistani authorities, said state home secretary Shivanand Jha.

Out of the 156 fishermen ? caught for ?intruding in Indian territorial waters?? ? 137 were lodged in a jail in Kutch and 19 in Jamnagar jail.

Jamnagar district police chief Manoj Shashidhar, who was at the station when the fishermen boarded the train, said: ?These fishermen will be escorted up to the Indo-Pak border and handed over to (Pakistani) officials at Wagah.?

The decision to release the fishermen was taken a few days ago when the Gujarat government received orders from the foreign ministry that all Pakistani fishermen in the state?s jails be released, said the home secretary. Home department officials claim that with the release of the 156 Pakistani fishermen, ?no Pakistani fisherman is languishing in jail in Gujarat??.

While the fishermen were happy to go home and be reunited with their families, most of them were worried about the prospect of beginning life afresh without their boats, which were seized by the Indian authorities. They feel the matter should be looked into by officials of the two countries.

One of the fishermen, 40-year-old Ahmetullah, who was caught in 2002, said: ?I feel happy to go home as a free man. My family, comprising two children, a wife and aged parents, awaits me eagerly.?