KARACHI, April 27 Six civil society organisations of Pakistan and India have announced that they will work together to get fishermen released from jails of the two countries.

In this regard, they have written a joint letter to the prime ministers of Pakistan and India to take initiative for an early release of the detained fishermen.

These signatories to the letter are the Pakistan Institute for Labour, Education and Research, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Focus on the Global South, India; National Fishworkers' Forum, India; Boat Owners' Association, Porbandar, India, and Peace Mumbai, India.

According to an announcement made here by Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, the fish worker activists from both India and Pakistan and members of other civil society organisations met in New Delhi on April 19 and discussed the issue of arrested fishermen in detail. Later, they wrote a letter to the prime ministers of Pakistan and India, requesting them to resolve the issue of fishermen detained for trespassing the unmarked sea borders.

Participants of the meeting included Kuldip Nayar, Karamat Ali, Jatin Desai, Bharat Modi, Jivan Jungi, Advocate M.K. Paul, Justice Rajinder Sachar, Iqbal Haider, Matanhy Saldanha, Varsha Rajan Berry, Gopal Tandel, Premabhai S. Prabhaker, Budhiabhai Tandel, Dilip Sharaoji, Ashwin Jungi, Ravi Hemadri, Michael Koeberlein and others.

The letter said that as many as 580 Indian fishermen are languishing in Pakistani prisons and around 460 of them have completed their sentences.

Similarly, about 247 Pakistani prisoners, including fishermen, have been granted consular access to the high commission of Pakistan in New Delhi and their travel documents have been issued by the high commission.

A large number of these Pakistani prisoners have completed their sentences or are minors.

The letter quoted that in a case of 17 Pakistani prisoners, who had completed their sentences, the Indian Supreme Court bench of Justices Markandey Katju and R.M. Lodha in a recent judgment observed “How can the government keep them in detention in violation of the fundamental rights of a person for years together without resorting to the procedure of law? The right to life and liberty is not dependent on another country's action.”

The letter suggested that clear orders to the relevant departments of the two countries be issued to ensure compliance with the unanimous recommendations of the official India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners.

The recommendations of the India-Pakistan Joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners, inter alia, recommended the release of all Indian and Pakistani fishermen in custody. The next meeting of the official committee would be held soon.

The meeting observed that since August 2008 this official committee has been inactive and “you are requested to activate this committee so that the committee comprising eight retired high court and supreme court judges (four from each country) may restart its working and make regular visits to the jails of the two countries and help in early release of prisoners”.

The committee was set up on January 2007 by the foreign ministers of the two countries to recommend steps for humane treatment and expeditious release of their nationals.

The consular access must be given within 90 days as required by the agreement on consular access (May 2008), they demanded.

They said that 444 Indian trawlers seized by the Pakistani authorities are lying in and around Karachi. A delegation of the Boat Owners of Gujarat visited Pakistan in 2008 and found that many trawlers were in good condition. Each trawler costs between Rs2 million and Rs2.5 million. These trawlers, too, should be released immediately.

They expressed the hope that the two prime ministers and their governments will pay due attention to the issue and do justice to the hundreds of thousands of fishermen of the subcontinent.

It was also suggested that as a solution 25 nautical miles of the area be designated as a free zone for fishermen of either country.

The meeting also recommended resumption of composite dialogue to resolve the Sir Creek issue.

Regular exchanges of fisherfolk community representatives were also stressed.