Pakistan released 362 Indian prisoners, most of them fishermen, on Saturday in the latest sign that Pakistan's new government wants to improve rocky ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The prisoners, including fishermen detained for straying into what Pakistan sees as its waters over the past two years, were allowed to go home through the Wagah border crossing, between the Pakistani city of Lahore and India's Amritsar.

However, the push by Pakistan's civilian government to improve relations with India has been undermined by a series of clashes that began this month along their border dividing the disputed Kashmir region.