ISLAMABAD, April 10: Pakistan on Monday lodged a strong protest with India over the killing of a Pakistani fisherman by Indian coast guards last month. “We have protested to the Indian government over this provocative act in which one precious life was lost,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told a weekly news briefing here on Monday.

She said an official of the Indian High Commission was called to the Foreign Office earlier in the day to lodge a protest over the killing of the fisherman on March 18 at about 18:00 hours.

When asked why it took Pakistan so long to lodge a protest, the spokesperson said it took a while for the information to trickle down and reach the ministry of foreign affairs which got such information from the defence ministry. She, however, maintained that the date for the demarche had been fixed sometime back.

Giving details of the incident, she said it occurred when a Pakistani fish boat, Al-Kulsoom, with seven crew members was fishing within the Pakistani exclusive economic zone. Indian coast guard navy vessels, along with helicopters, chased the boat and then opened fired, killing the fisherman on the spot, she said.

Pointing out that this was the second incident that had happened in the last month and a half, the FO spokesperson said: “We do hope that there will be no recurrence of such an incident.”

Her response to a question on how recurrence of such incidents could be avoided in future was: “Well, we will have to respect each others’ territorial integrity and also territorial waters and its exclusive economic zone.”—Q.A.