THATTA: Indian coastguards infiltrated into Pakis­-tani territorial waters in Kajhur Creek, intercepted a fishing boat and took away 10 fishermen on Sunday, sources in the coastal areas said.

They said that an Indian vessel carrying coastguards entered Pakistani waters to seize the fishing boat ‘Al Yaseen’. They forced the 10 fishermen to board their vessel at gunpoint and took them away along with the boat, the sources added.

The fishermen belonged to Autharki, Daando and Katiar villages of Keti Bandar and Shah Bandar coastal areas in Thatta district.

Soon after the incident, families of the fishermen approached the Sindh Mallah Forum (SMF), an organisation representing the local fishermen community, and informed its senior vice president, Dada Adam Gandro, about the seizure.

They identified the captured fishermen as Ahmed Katiar, Ahsan, Ghulam Hussain Katiar, Abdul Sattar, Ghulam Hussain, Arib Patni, Masood Patni, Ghulam Qasim, Hussain Usman and Ghulam Mustafa.

They said the fishermen were busy fishing within the territorial waters when the Indian vessel captured them and sped into Indian waters.

Dada Gandro and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) leader Syed Gulab Shah condemned the Indian coastguard’s unwarranted action and conveyed its serious concern over the fresh incident of violation of Pakistani waters to the federal government.

They said it was the latest of numerous such unlawful actions on the part of Indian forces over decades. They noted that a large number of Pakistani fishermen were already in illegal Indian custody and reportedly kept in a Gujrat jail. They urged Islamabad to take up the issue with New Delhi and take measures for immediate release of all fishermen.

Fishermen are often accused of violating the sea border, which is obviously invisible. Security personnel of Pakistan and India take such actions upon detecting violation through modern gadgets. The captured fishermen are released after it is established that the violations are occurred by mistake.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2022