ACCORDING to latest reports, Pakistani authorities have arrested 17 Indian fishermen for allegedly poaching in Pakistani waters. They have been handed over to the police by the Maritime Security Agency. This has brought the number of Indian fishermen detained in Pakistan to 158.
Similarly ,hundreds of Pakistani fishermen have been jailed in India. Some of them have been languishing in Indian prisons since last 5-10 years.
The Arabian Sea around the Sir Creek estuary, where most fishermen get caught, has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan for years. India says the boundary should lie in the middle of the 100-km estuary, basing its claim on pillars built down the middle of part of the channel during British colonial rule.
Pakistan says the border should lie on the south eastern bank of the creek, basing its claim on a map prepared by the British governor of Bombay in the early 20th century. The absence of a clear boundary line makes it difficult for fishermen to identify which part of the sea belongs to India and Pakistan.
No permanent sea borderline has been drawn between both the countries. For their mutual convenience, the patrolling agencies have worked out an imaginary line along the Sir Creek region off the coast of Kutch.
Thousands of Pakistani and Indian fishermen get their livelihood from the fisheries resources of Arabian Sea and some of them do fishing very close to the border areas. The fishing boats of the fishermen unknowingly cross into other’s territory because of tidal currents, wind force, cyclone and engine failures.
The poor fishermen are caught and jailed by the marine agencies of both the countries on the allegations of heinous crimes like spying etc. while their families including their small children face starvation as those arrested even include two and three persons of one family. Both the countries treat the fishermen as ‘prisoners of war’. The captive fishermen are released from time to time on reciprocal basis.
Arrests of the fishermen are mostly arbitrary and in some cases, simply a ‘tit for tat’ or retaliatory action. There is no policy or legal provision to deal with the release of captured fishermen.
According to the local fishermen, the Indian forces capture the Pakistani fishing boats and take the fishermen into custody. When the news of the capture Pakistani fishermen is published in the newspapers, Pakistani forces become active and even cross the boundaries to catch Indian fishermen only to ‘make score’ equal. The same is the Indian attitude.
Interestingly, both the countries do not observe UN Convention on Sea and treat the fishermen as ‘prisoners of war’. They have never tried to formulate a policy on this issue, ignoring efforts by civil society organization in both countries.
The civil society organizations view the arrests of fishermen as an outcome of self-created political tensions between the two states. The solution lies in the regional peace and co-operation. The issue is linked to overall normalization of bilateral relations.
In a representation to the governments of the presidents and interior ministers of both Pakistan and India, the civil organizations have urged them to take personal notice of this serious issue and order unconditional release of all the arrested and jailed fishermen. Both the governments have been asked to stop arresting the poor fishermen, settle Sir Creek border issue and to create permanent border with search lights and signals; declare at least 25 nautical miles as free zone to facilitate fishing by the fishermen of both sides without any fear of being arrested.
With the arbitrary arrest of the poor fishermen, their families face starvation, their children are compelled to stop their education and quite often they have been forced to become beggars. There are dozens of families in India and Pakistan waiting for their breed earners to return. To provide them relief, following measures are needed:
* Both Pakistan and India should respect and properly implement “the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea” and other human rights conventions while dealing with the cross-border incidents of fishermen. * The authorities on both sides should refrain from arresting and implicating the arrested fishermen in serious cases. On the contrary, the fishermen mistakenly crossing the borders should be warned and made to return back. * The suspects in serious cases should be released forthwith after necessary interrogations, if found innocent. Identification passes/ cards should be issued to the fishermen and in case of mistaken border crossing, the fishermen should be allowed to return to their country. * Both the countries should make sincere efforts to resolve Sir Creek border dispute and establish a permanent border with search lights and towers to ensure that no fishermen crosses the country borders mistakenly. * Both the countries should form a body to expeditiously decide the case of fishermen who strayed into the each others territorial waters. Pakistani Maritime agency and Indian coast guards should establish hotline to identify and release the fishermen arrested for straying into their territories. * Both the countries should declare at least 25 nautical miles of their respective sea border areas near international border as free zones to allow the fishermen of both the countries to fish in this area freely without being arrested.
ACCORDING to latest reports, Pakistani authorities have arrested 17 Indian fishermen for allegedly poaching in Pakistani waters. They have been handed over to the police by the Maritime Security Agency. This has brought the number of Indian fishermen detained in Pakistan to 158.
