Despite the government’s best efforts for their release, nearly 560 fishermen from Gujarat are languishing in jails of Pakistan. The information was given by the Gujarat government in the Legislative Assembly during Question Hour on Wednesday.
Pollution of sea water along the Gujarat coastline having pushed shoals of fish away towards Karachi, fishermen from Veraval, Mangrol, Porbandar, Jakhau and other smaller ports are often compelled to venture far and get caught by the Pakistani Marine Security Agency (PMSA) for alleged intrusion into Pak waters.
Pakistani fishermen too are routinely intercepted by India’s Coast Guard personnel for illegal entry into Indian waters, leading to a vicious circle of detentions in both the countries.
Though batches of arrested fishermen from both sides are released time to time as part of confidence building measures (CBMs), a backlog of detained people always remains in prisons on two sides of Arabian Sea and Gulf of Kutch.
The Gujarat government has made about a dozen requests to the Centre to initiate proceedings to get the fishermen released from Pakistani jails, the Legislative Assembly was informed.
The government has paid financial assistance of Rs 4.28 crore to the families of fishermen held in Pakistan’s jails.
Even though fishermen are released once in a while, they cannot resume their normal livelihood as their boats get junked and rusted due to remaining anchored off the Karachi harbour for several months and years.