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KARACHI: Eleven people — 10 fishermen, including an eight-year-old boy, and a farmer — arrived here on Thursday after spending almost two years in Indian jails for allegedly crossing into the Indian territorial limits.
All the 11 freed people were received by their families and members of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum at the Cantt Railway Station.PFF chairman Muhammad Ali Shah said that eight fishermen were residents of Karachi and other three people hailed from Thatta and Tharparkar in the interior of Sindh.
“The eight-year-old boy, Abdul Aziz, was arrested by Indian maritime authorities some four months ago while he was on a fishing boat with his father and crossed the territorial limits unintentionally during fishing,” he said.
“His father is still in an Indian jail, though the authorities released the boy on humanitarian grounds.”
“There are still 200 [Pakistani] fishermen languishing in Indian jails while 300 Indian fishermen are in our prisons,” he said.
Earlier, a statement issued by the PFF said the released people included Abdul Aziz, Narain Kolhi, Mohammed Sajan, Mohammed Hussain, Jamal Hussain, Noor-ul-Haq, Mohammed Noor, son of Dil Mohammed, Mohammed Noor, son of Zaheer Alam, Noor Mohammed, Mohammed Irfan Muna and Mohammed Ishaq.
It said that Narain, a farmer hailing from Tharparkar, lost his way in the desert and mistakenly crossed the Indian border some two years ago where he was detained by Indian border security forces.
All the released people had been kept in Jam Nagar and Bhoj jails of India and ordered to be released last week on humanitarian grounds.
The PFF, which mediated the efforts for the fishermen's release, welcomed the Indian government decision, though it pinned little hope on a permanent solution to the problem under the current circumstances.
“The issue of fishermen's arrest on both sides of the border is directly linked with the relations between the two countries,” said Mr Shah of the PFF.
“However, if we go by the book the Article 73 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea does not allow arrest of fishermen if they cross into neighboring country's waters unintentionally during fishing. We have unfortunately seen the trend that security forces on both sides do not care even about the ages of the fishermen and the arrest of eight-year-old Abdul Aziz by the Indian maritime forces reflects such trend.”
He said that since the governments on both sides failed to develop an agreed mechanism for a permanent solution of the issue, the PFF came up with a three-point proposal for authorities of the two countries.
“We suggest that since Sir Creek is a disputed territory between the two countries, there should be no arrest of either country's fishermen in that area. Similarly, to avoid violation of the limits, there should be a visible demarcation of the maritime border,” he added.
He said that a 50-nautical-mile buffer zone could be created between the two countries that allowed fishermen from both sides to operate without any threat.
