19 TN fishermen return from Pakistan

The fishermen who came to Mumbai from Pakistan after they were released from Karachi central prison, were brought in an Indian Airlines flight to Chennai.

The fishermen, who were on a contract assignment in Saudi Arabia, were arrested in February, 1999, when they drifted into Iranian waters following a storm.

They were jailed in Iran between February 16, 1999, and June 5, 1999, and later handed over to Pakistani authorities on the promise that they would be sent to India. They said they were taken in a bus to Pakistan and when the fishermen told the Iranian authorities that they belonged to India and they did not want to go to Pakistan, they were told to get off the bus at gunpoint. Since June 6, 1999, they were in Pakistani prisons. At Pakistan, they were initially kept in prisons in Quetta and later shifted to one in Karachi.

The Tamil Nadu Government, which was under constant pressure from the fishermen community in Kanyakumari district, appeared to be relieved today after months of hectic efforts by the State Government and the External Affairs Ministry to obtain their release suceeded. Diplomatic efforts last year were bogged down due to the Kargil conflict and the military coup in Pakistan.

A fisherman said though they were ordered to be released by a Pakistani court in December, 1999, they could not come to India earlier. Initially, the Indian embassy officials told them they would be taken to India in December. Then, they were promised that they would be taken in January, 2000, but to no avail. Then when the Indian High Commission officials in Islamabad visited the imprisoned fishermen on January 3, things started moving.

As the date of return kept getting postponed, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee assured Chief Minister M Karunanidhi that their release would be expedited. The final confirmation of the date of their release came through a communication from the External Affairs Ministry on April 17.

Vaiko, who had raised the issue in Parliament, said the fishermen’s release was a victory for both the Central and State Governments.

On their arrival, the fishermen were received at the Chennai airport by TN Fisheries Minister Jennifer Chandran, MDMK general secretary Vaiko, BJP state unit general secretary L Ganesan and Volunteers of Fisherpeople’ Associations among others.

The Minister welcomed the fishermen and gave them clothes to wear. After hearing their tale, the minister announced a sum of Rs 5,000 each to the fishermen, to be handed over to them when they reach their respective districts by the Collectors.

The fishermen and their families explained they had pledged all their belongings to get the job and had spent Rs one lakh each. For more than a year now, they did not even have a salary and had to pay back all their debts. The Minister asked them to give a written request for financial assistance and said she would take up the matter with Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

They were then taken to the Fisheries Department hall in Teynampet where sent by a train to Kanyakumari district and other places in the evening.