ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) has sought permission from the Supreme Court for forming a committee to draft a policy on how to prevent and deal with a situation in which Pakistani fishermen inadvertently stray into Indian waters and are arrested by Indian forces.

The FO had submitted a report to the court seeking an order for the formation of such a committee, Additional Attorney General Shah Khawar told a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.

If formed, the committee will comprise representatives of foreign and interior ministries and the Maritime Security Agency.

The court had taken up a petition jointly filed by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research. The petition raises the issue of imprisonment of Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails.

Barrister Raheel Kamran Sheikh, the counsel for the petitioners, said he had no objection to the formation of such a committee. But, he said, the report did not state what steps had been taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since a meeting of the ministers of India and Pakistan in Sept 2012 for the release of 226 fishermen languishing in Indian prisons though 337 Indian fishermen had been released from Pakistani prisons in Aug 2013.

The court observed that the report was not satisfactory and ordered the government to submit a proper reply in a fortnight after which the case will be taken up again.

On Aug 26, 2010 the Foreign Office had told the court that fishermen confined in India and Pakistan had been arrested for illegal poaching in waters of each other. Indian fishermen are being held in the Malir district Jail in Karachi, Nara Jail in Hyderabad and district jails in Badin and Naushero Feroze.

The 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks blocked the chances of deportation of Indian fishermen under the prisoner exchanges between Islamabad and New Delhi.

A report submitted to the court then stated that 456 of 584 Indian fishermen had completed their sentences and their cases were under review in the Federal Review Board of the court.

Since 2003, Pakistan has released 3,014 Indian prisoners (291 civil and 2,723 fishermen) but India has freed only 1,066 Pakistan prisoners (554 civil and 512 fishermen), according to the report.