Fishermen cross troubled waters, unite with families

RAJKOT, Nov 24: A group of 190 Indian fishermen, who had been languishing in Pakistani jails for some three years, returned to an emotional ...

RAJKOT, Nov 24: A group of 190 Indian fishermen, who had been languishing in Pakistani jails for some three years, returned to an emotional reunion with their near ones on Monday. Thirty-one boats carrying them arrived at the Okha port in Jamnagar district two days after they were freed by Pakistani authorities as part of an agreement with the Indian Government.

Their yachts and boats, which were impounded by the Pakistani authorities, were also returned. The fishermen, who were detained in Pakistan on the charge of intruding into its territorial water, had to undergo a medical check-up on their arrival and police and customs also gave their clearances, S L Tandel, superintendent, Fisheries Department at Okha, told The Indian Express in the evening. All were in good health, Tandel added.

Jamnagar DSP Ajay Tomar said the Indian Embassy at Pakistan had verified the fishermen’s papers, and given them certified photographs to be carried to India. He said Jamnagar police had made preliminary enquiriessuch as details of their hometowns, the date of their arrest to make sure that they were the same persons who had been in Pakistani captivity.

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The fishermen were received by a reception committee of senior fisheries, port and customs officials as well as Coast Guards. The families of the fishermen, waiting at the port, soon burst into loud cheers.

The fishermen were released after voluntary agencies as well as the State Government took up the matter with the Central Government with a request to sort it out with its Pakistani counterpart.

On a directive from Health Minister Ashok Bhatt, a team of 12 doctors from Irwin Hospital at Jamnagar, was detailed to the Okha port for immediate service to the fishermen. Although check-ups in such cases are a routine, the team was sent after many a family feared that the fishermen might have been tortured during captivity.

Out of the 190, 66 were from Amreli, 58 from Diu, 17 from Bulsar, 15 from Jamnagar, seven from Daman, four from Junagadh and one each fromMaharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

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The fishermen had set sail from Karachi port on Saturday evening, with a Pakistani Navy vessel escorting the boats. The Pakistani Navy handed over the boats to Indian Coast Guards.

As a reciprocal gesture, the Indian Government had conveyed to its Pakistani counterpart on October 31 and again on November 2 its decision to release 149 Pakistani fishermen and 18 boats Indian marine authorities had arrested and impounded for intruding into Indian territorial waters. They included 40 Pakistani fishermen arrested on October 24.

During the recent Indo-Pakistan composite dialogue in New Delhi, both the sides agreed that in future fishermen of either country, arrested for inadvertently straying into the territorial waters of the other, would be released immediately on completion of procedures.

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