The two women - Mumtaz and Fatima - were apprehended on charges of drug trafficking after travelling to India via the Samjhauta Express in 2006. Fatima's 10-year-old daughter Hina was born in captivity, as Fatima was pregnant at the time of her arrest.
Indian police handed the prisoners over to the Pakistan Rangers at the border. Relations between the two neighbouring countries have been tense with regular instances of cross-border firing across the Line of Control (LoC). However, the exchange of prisoners between the two countries continues intermittently.