Troubled waters: Pakistani authorities arrest 47 Indian fishermen
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KARACHI: Pakistani marine forces on Saturday arrested 47 Indian fishermen for allegedly violating territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, police said.
Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency also captured eight boats belonging to the fishermen, who it said had strayed into Pakistani waters. The fishermen were later handed over to local police in the port city of Karachi.
“We have been gived the custody of the 47 Indian fishermen who have been arrested from the sea for violating territorial waters,” Fida Hussain, a senior police official in Karachi, told AFP.
“We will present these detainees to court for completion of the due legal procedure,” he said.
Such arrests are frequently carried out by both countries, as the maritime border in the Arabian Sea is poorly defined and many fishing boats lack the technology needed to be certain of their precise location.
The fishermen often languish in jail even after serving their term, as poor diplomatic ties between the two arch-rivals mean fulfilling official requirements can take a long time.
Pakistan released 172 Indian fishermen in February as “a goodwill gesture “but arrested 45 others last month. A Pakistani jail official in Karachi told AFP that they already had 428 Indian inmates in custody before the fresh arrests on Saturday.
Both countries also use the release of fishermen to express goodwill from time to time.
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Comments (31) Closed
Apr 18, 2015 06:47pm
They are the pawns in diplomacy between two countries. Arrest them to show your might and then release them to show the goodwill.
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Apr 18, 2015 06:50pm
Fishermen from both side does this Violation, trying to hook more. Both side should do some negotiation on it. Pakistan has seized several fishing Boat (Cost round 75 crore INR). Free them and handover their boat, they are poor people trying to earn livelihood for their kids.
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Apr 18, 2015 06:56pm
There has to be a more sensible way to address this problem. What is the benefit of catching and then releasing them and the cycle continues.
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Apr 18, 2015 06:59pm
I wonder if this is retaliation for the arrest of the "prominent" Kashmiri leade by the Indian authorities.
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Apr 18, 2015 07:04pm
well done border patrol
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Apr 18, 2015 07:05pm
Hope they are treated well, and then released with exchange of Pakistani fishermen caught on Indian side.
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Apr 18, 2015 07:22pm
Both countries need to get an agreement to stop this nonsense of harassing the poorest or poor. These poor people are proxies for the powerful to feel good about their ideologies sitting in their living rooms.
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Apr 18, 2015 07:46pm
Congratulations for the great achievement !
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Apr 18, 2015 08:41pm
This human tragedy is avoidable with little bit of political spine. Fisherman on both side have to feed their hungry families but big fat politician can understand this.
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Apr 18, 2015 08:52pm
In the meantime why are we getting so excited about the Chinese? They may be our friends but they are better friends of others. Search for this: Xi Jinping calls on PM Modi to help build China's Bengaluru
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Apr 18, 2015 09:07pm
although it is important to ensure the sanctity of borders but these fishermen are usually very poor and mostly lacks the equipment to ensure that they r their own borders. government should free them as soon as possible to free their families from pain and agony.
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Apr 18, 2015 09:09pm
What do fisherman do? They follow the fish, and fish don't know where the borders are. The fishermen took a risk and they caught themselves.
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Apr 18, 2015 09:09pm
Both countries should cooperate and free the poor fishermen from both sides.
@Ostrich Being sarcastic will not achieve anything for both sides.
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Apr 18, 2015 10:15pm
Hopefully, these innocent fishermen will be released soon!
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Apr 18, 2015 10:16pm
Please release them immediately , they are poor fishermen. Thanks
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Apr 18, 2015 10:19pm
As this is a common occurrence on both sides perhaps it would be a good practice (on both sides of the border) to just confiscate their boats and record their personal details and hand them over to the authorities on the other side o the border! But with a stiff warning if they are caught again they will languish in jail!
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Apr 18, 2015 11:06pm
Pakistan needs to take measures to avoid captures poor fishermen of India.
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Apr 18, 2015 11:26pm
These poor fisherman from both countries spend their time in jail without any crime.and real culprits' enjoy immunity shame for the both governments
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Apr 18, 2015 11:49pm
Two policemen arrested for teenager's death during firing in Kashmir's Narbal
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Apr 19, 2015 12:11am
What an achievement. Why don't the marine corps direct them to return to their territories instead of arresting them... Burden for the country and stress for poor fisher men and families. This keeps foreign office busy in discussing some thing substantial... instead.
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Apr 19, 2015 12:13am
No not again. Both countries must release all the poor fishermen without delay. They would be having families to feed. They must not be made pawn in the game.
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Apr 19, 2015 02:07am
They should be release back to their families no need to harass them , India should do the same as well and very often...
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Apr 19, 2015 04:06am
It is a shame that both countries arrest each others poor substinent fishermen to prove a point.
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Apr 19, 2015 04:29am
These are poor people trying to feed themselves and their families by fishing. There are no visible lines drawn in the ocean. How are these poor fishermen supposed to know when they cross the territorial waters? Instead of Pakistan and India making a big issue out of this and arresting these poor people, the Coast Guards should warn them and direct them to return to their own waters. Simple as that. We have lots of other serious issues that we need to address.
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Apr 19, 2015 05:37am
Feed them well, keep them in a good condition and spend generous tax payers money on them.
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Apr 19, 2015 07:11am
Regardless of the illwill,a mechanism must be evolved to stop such incidents.It does speak well of both the nations in taking care of their nationals.Trading arrested fisherman to express goodwill is nonsense and is a cheap tactic.Using modern technology,stopping such incidents should not be difficult.Human rights activists must note and act.
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Apr 19, 2015 08:47am
Simple solution for both countries, have a price agreement for each head, after arresting, send them back to respective country and charge the money .
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Apr 20, 2015 11:05am
Sad. These poor guys of both side suffer.
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Apr 20, 2015 12:10pm
It is said that You cannot have prosperity (barkat) and peace (aman) if you receive the curse (bad-dua) of poor people.
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Apr 20, 2015 12:41pm
What bothers me is that how SO many "fishermen" keep losing their way and ending up into Pakistani waters ? Are we supposed to believe that the fishermen, whose very bread and butter comes from the sea , know nothing about it and "accidentally" end up in Pakistani waters ?
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Apr 20, 2015 02:29pm
Rapid industrialization in India has led to depletion of fish in waters around India. The desperate Indian fishermen are entering the Pakistani waters.
I think this is a fault of the Indian fishermen. Some solution needs to be found.
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