Pakistan will free 41 Indian prisoners and 406 Indian fishermen by the middle of next month as a gesture of goodwill to its arch-rival, a Pakistani official said yesterday.

The announcement comes at the end of back-to-back talks between the nuclear-armed rivals as part of a composite dialogue to end more than half a century of hostilities, including three wars, two of them over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. “We have decided to release 41 Indian civilians in our prisons after the Indian High Commission has confirmed that they were Indian nationals,” said an official who asked not to be identified.

He said Pakistan has also supplied the Indian High Commission in Islamabad with a list of 150 other people to confirm their nationality, a move that highlights a thaw in relations between the South Asian neighbours. “We have also decided to release 406 Indian fishermen in our custody soon,” said the official. He gave no other details.

Fishermen from India and Pakistan regularly stray into each others’ waters while working off the southern coastline.

A Pakistani foreign ministry statement said the process of releasing the Indian prisoners would be completed by Sept. 15.

On Monday, Pakistan and India exchanged three prisoners from the 1999 Kargil conflict in Kashmir that halted a peace process at the time and heightened mistrust between the countries. Pakistan returned two Indian soldiers and India returned one in a coordinated exchange.

The exchange of prisoners is part of a series of goodwill gestures between the two countries, whose officials met to talk about how to combat terrorism on Wednesday. Officials from the two sides also discussed how to enhance trade.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Islamic militants who are fighting Indian troops in its part of Kashmir. Pakistan, which accuses India of human rights violations in Indian-controlled Kashmir, denies the charge and says it provides only moral and political support to Kashmiri “freedom fighters”.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in an insurgency that broke out in 1989 and which has severely strained relations.