Footprints: FISHING, ESPIONAGE & INSANITY

Published May 31, 2016
SURROUNDED by relatives, fisherman Bachal Solangi who was recently arrested for being a RAW agent narrates his experience in Haji Ishaque Solangi village in Shah Bunder taluka.—Photo by writer
SURROUNDED by relatives, fisherman Bachal Solangi who was recently arrested for being a RAW agent narrates his experience in Haji Ishaque Solangi village in Shah Bunder taluka.—Photo by writer

FINDING strangers entering his thatched hut in the far-flung coastal village of Haji Ishaque Solangi in Shah Bunder taluka, Bachal Solangi — recently branded a RAW agent — revolved in his plastic chair, alert and apparently ready to run off. It took two female relatives to pacify and coax him into listening, and responding, to our queries.

Despite this, Bachal still appeared wary and asked us numerous questions, particularly regarding our reason for travelling 95 kilometres from Thatta to that remote Indus delta village.

“Fikar na kar, hee pahnja aahin,” (Don’t worry, they are our own people) said one of the local fishermen. Finally, Bachal agreed to share his experience with us.

Just to get this much access to Bachal, reportedly in self-imposed isolation, proved to be an uphill task. Locals were reluctant to disclose his whereabouts, or even what village he belonged to.

We had contacted a friend of ours, a former broadcaster who has quit his job and now lives in his ancestral coastal village, who told us that ever since the capture of two RAW agents in Shah Bunder taluka, a sense of insecurity had gripped the local populace — poor, mostly fishermen, many of them illiterate — believing that admitting to any knowledge of or links to Bachal or other suspects of espionage might get them into trouble.

This contact revealed that the young Bachal has become ‘insane’, often staring blankly to the sky or talking to himself.

His mother, Hawa, corroborating the fragility of Bachal’s mental state, said he could often be heard at odd hours of the night shouting: “Achan paya, hoo mookhey mareenda” (They are coming to beat me up). While she claims that he has almost lost his memory, he often recalls some details, and shares them with family members.

Ghani Katiyar and Adam Janiyaro — both social workers, one also a local media person — told this reporter that Bachal was caught trespassing into Indian territorial waters and fishing by Indian law enforcement personnel.

The local villagers also acknowledged this fact, stating that in 2009 Bachal was among the 24 fishermen and crew on board three fishing vessels when the Indians on their speedboats stormed their vessels in the Kajhar Creek — violating Pakistani territorial waters — and took the vessels and their occupants at gunpoint to the Indian state of Gujarat.

They said that after more than nine months of incarceration in Indian jails, and subjecting of ruthless treatment by their captors, they were released.

In the next incident, Bachal, with his fellow fishermen, was fishing in 2012 in the controversial waters of the Sir Creek when he was once again apprehended by Indian law enforcers and taken away to the Bhuj jail in Gujarat.

Last month, Bachal, with Saddam, alias Roshan Machhi, was arrested by the Sindh police’s Counter-Terrorism Department in a raid on a hotel in the coastal village of Baghan. The CTD claimed to have found confidential documents and photographs of sensitive installations in Karachi in their possession.

During the interrogation, the CTD claimed, the suspects confessed that they were allotted secret codes, which they used to make contact with a RAW official in India.

Of the two suspects, a court in Karachi reportedly acquitted Bachal. He confirmed, saying: “Yes, somebody in the court also gave me a Rs500 note so that I could return to my village in Thatta. I never even dared to venture into deep waters, but unfortunately I have been captured twice, and faced the music in the Indian jail,” he said. “This time, I don’t know who misled the agency people who dragged me away. I am innocent,” he said beseechingly, wiping his eyes with the cuff of his shirt.

His elderly mother told Dawn that she had three daughters, and that Bachal was the sole breadwinner for five children. All the children are engaged in labour, selling in the local market crabs and fish they catch.

The entire family is worried that Bachal may have lost his mind, and concerned for his future. The local boat owners are now reluctant to take him along on their fishing expeditions, saying they fear becoming a target of the ‘agencies’ if he is on board their fishing vessels. Bachal’s family has to suffer indefinitely.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2016

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