Fishermen, trafficking on table as India, Pakistan coast guards meet today

This comes even as former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav is facing death sentence in Pakistan on charges of espionage, and that has soured relationship between the two countries.

Fishermen, trafficking on table as India, Pak coast guards meet today

Back in July 2016, Indian Coast Guard officials had visited Islamabad for the previous round of talks.

India and Pakistan will hold a meeting of their coast guard officials on Monday in New Delhi, sources said here on Sunday. Top on the agenda will be the issue of fishermen and illegal trafficking, they said.

This comes even as former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav is facing death sentence in Pakistan on charges of espionage, and that has soured relationship between the two countries.

This is the second time after the surgical strikes in September 2016 that security establishment officials from Pakistan will be visiting. In January-February this year, Islamabad sent a four-member team of counter-terrorism and intelligence specialists to attend an SCO meeting.

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On Monday, the chief of Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) Rear Admiral Zaka Ur Rehman will be representing Pakistan, while the Indian side will be represented by Indian Coast Guard director general Rajender Singh.

In July 2016, Indian Coast Guard officials had visited Islamabad for the previous round of talks.

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The Indian Coast Guard and PMSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 3, 2005, that came into effect on March 16, 2006, envisaging cooperation between ICG and PMSA through exchange of information on Exclusive Economic Zone violations, apprehended vessels, marine pollution, natural disasters/calamities, combating smuggling, illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and piracy, and coordination in search and rescue and return sea passage.

It also established a communication link which is operational. Under the provisions of the MoU, directors general of ICG and PMSA meet periodically. The MoU was extended for five years in 2016.

Shubhajit Roy

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More

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India Pakistan relations