THATTA: As many as 53 Sindh fishermen, who had been released by Indian authorities and handed over to their Pakistani counterparts on Sept 9, remain stranded in Lahore since then.

The fishermen’s relatives claimed Sindh Fisheries Department, provincial government, and Fishermen’s Coopera­tive Society of had not made any official communication with the Punjab Rangers authorities for immediate handover of the released prisoners.

Noor Mohammad Thaheemore, a central leader of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), said that it had been a practice since COVID-19 pandemic that released fishermen were often kept detained for three to five weeks on the pretext of ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation’.

He said that several fishermen released in past had complained of suffering greater psychological and mental torture in the Lahore detention facility than what they had faced in Indian jails, and described their experience [in their own country] as ‘inhumane’.

Thaheemore alleged dis­­crimination in the treatment of prisoners, noting that those from Punjab were swiftly released, while Sindh fishermen were deliberately held back and eventually handed over to Edhi Foundation in Lahore as ‘unclaimed persons’, which then facilitated their transport to Karachi.

Families plan protest in Sujawal, Thatta on Monday

Frustrated by the prolonged detention of their loved ones, the prisoners’ relatives including Ismail Racho, Mir Racho, Liaq­uat Shaikh, Ramzan Shai­kh, Qurban Chandani, Saleh Ronjho, Ghulam Muham­mad Katiyar and Qasim Patni demanded immediate release of the prisoners and warned of holding protests in Sujawal and Thatta district from Oct 6 if they were not freed.

The Sindh fishermen were among a batch of 67 Pakistanis recently rele­as­ed by India, who inclu­ded civilians as well as prisoners of different categories.

Of the fishermen, 18 belonged to Sujawal, one to Thatta, and the remaining 34 to Karachi neighborhoods of Ibrahim Hyderi, Ali Akbar Shah Goth, Katyar village and Machhar Colony.

Nine fishermen, including brothers Ghulam Nabi and Ali Asghar, sons of Muhammad Ismail Racho, and Musa, son of Mir Muhammad Racho, who were residents of Talib Racho village in Jati taluka Sujawal, had been imprisoned in India for four years.

Muhammad Shaikh, Yaseen Shaikh, Ali Bakhsh, Saddam Hussain, Muhammad Aslam, and Ghulam were from Zero Point village, and nine including three brothers Nakho Ahmed Katiar, Hassan and Ghulam Hussain, sons of Usman Katiar, were from Atharki village in Kharochhan taluka. Nawaz Kundriyo of Jangesar taluka, Keti Bandar, who had spent seven years in an Indian jail, was also freed.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2025