KARACHI: As the Karachi Express pulled on to platform three of Cantonment Railway Station on Saturday, the five Pakistani fishermen returning home after doing 27 months in Indian jails were so happy to be back home that they started waving from the windows of railcar number 10 to just about anyone they saw standing on the platform.

“Life in Indian jails was normal. We got to eat what the other prisoners got. But after the attack on Sarabjit Singh in prison here, we were separated from the Indian prisoners and also provided security,” said Noorul Islam, one of the five Pakistani fishermen returning home after spending 27 months in captivity in India. “Our problems started when we were transferred to the lock-up later,” he added.

Abdul Rehman, another fisherman, explained that they were sent back to the lock-up which had first registered their case after arrest at sea when the time they were sentenced to serve in prison was complete. “The lock-up, the Marine police station, in Dawarka is a terrible place and we had to spend four months there after completing our sentence. That’s where we received beatings and were given very little food, not in plates or thalis but on the floor. All we could do was find pieces of plastic bags to spread on the ground before they threw us the food there,” he said.

Abul Kalam, another fisherman in the group, said: “The sentence is two years and a Rs10,000 fine. If you don’t have money to pay the fine, you are to spend two months extra behind bars but we served even longer than that,” he said.

“The lock-up was so crowded at all times that we had to sit crouched on the floor. There wasn’t even any space for us to spread our legs or lie down during the four moths we were there. But what could we do? Who could we have complained to in India,” said Abdul Shakoor, another one among the released fishermen.

The men were brought to Karachi by the Fishermen Cooperative Society after being handed over to them by the Edhi Foundation in Lahore soon after crossing the Wagah Border with four other civilian who stayed behind in Lahore. There were FCS officers with their chairman Dr Nisar Morai there to receive them at the Cantt Station but strangely none of their family members were there.

“The celebrations will begin once we reach Ibrahim Hyderi. My family doesn’t even know I am coming back home. They would be so surprised,” said the aged Noorul Islam, who said he had tried calling home from the train but was unable to reach anyone.

The fisherman caught near the Sir Creek while fishing in the boat Al-Sattar said that he had not even been able to communicate with his family from India. “I have seven sons and one daughter. My two older boys work at a tailoring shop and the younger ones go to school. The older ones must have helped run the household in my absence but I don’t know how everyone is doing otherwise. Still, one thing is clear. My family will not be fishing as I’m the last fishermen among them now,” he said.

Abul Kalam said he was also caught near the Sir Creek by Indian authorities 27 months back, but the other five men in his boat were freed in two to four months after that. “I was the captain of our boat Al-Osmania so there was a bigger case against me,” he said while promising himself that he will give up the fishing profession now.

“I am a resident of big and beautiful Karachi. My city will provide me work elsewhere. I can find a job in a factory somewhere or do anything else but the fisherman in me I have left behind in India. I won’t risk my life fishing again,” he said, adding that he had tried calling home from the train only half an hour before reaching Karachi but his brother’s mobile phone was off.

Abdul Rehman, whose boat Al-Razzak was also caught the same way the others got caught around the same time also didn’t have a clue about how his family was doing in his absence. “All contact with them was broken when I was arrested at sea for violating the border.

Deen Mohammad, the fifth man in the group, said that he was able to reach his family when he called from the train a while back. “My wife couldn’t believe that I was calling and that I was finally coming home. All I could hear was her weeping with joy after that,” he said while wiping away his own tears.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2014