NEW DELHI, Jan 31: A new hotline linking coastal security agencies in India and Pakistan has helped prevent their fishermen from inadvertently crossing the disputed sea boundary, India’s coast guard said on Wednesday.

Hundreds of fishermen from the South Asian neighbours are arrested each year for straying into the other’s territorial waters near the disputed Sir Creek estuary in the Arabian Sea where the maritime boundary is not clearly demarcated.

The old rivals set up a telephone hotline between their coastal security agencies in November as part of a slow-moving peace process and this had “helped reduce incidents of inadvertent crossing”, an Indian coast guard statement said.

“The link has provided better coordination with the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency,” said the coast guard chief, Vice-Admiral Rusi F. Contractor.

“Fishing vessels found straying within five nautical miles of the maritime boundary are normally returned if nothing incriminating is found on them,” he said without elaborating.

Earlier in January, experts from the two countries began a joint survey of the 100-km Sir Creek estuary to help determine the maritime frontier and settle the row.—Reuters