KARACHI: The Maritime Security Agency (MSA) on Saturday arrested 88 Indian fishermen for fishing in Pakistani waters, an official said.

“The Indian fishermen were arrested by the MSA while they were fishing in Pakistani waters of the Arabian Sea in the early hours of Saturday,” said an official at the Docks police station.

“Their (Indian fishermen’s) 16 fishing boats have also been seized by the MSA. They were later handed over to police from where they would be produced before the respective courts.”

He said the Docks police had registered a case against the arrested Indian fishermen on behalf of the state under Sections 3/4 of the Foreign Act and 3/9 of the Fishery Act.

The arrest of Indian fishermen came as third such incident in three months after the two countries agreed in Dec 2015 to reinitiate the dialogue process during Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visit to Pakistan.

However, the scheduled talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries were postponed after the Pathankot airbase attack in India last month.

The fisheries officials said that the release and exchange of fishermen had also come to a halt from the two sides for the past several months causing concern among the families of their arrested loved ones on both sides of the border.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2016