The two-month old hotline between the Indian Coast Guard and its Pakistani counterpart—the Maritime Security Agency (MSA)—has begun to prove its worth. The chiefs of both the organisations, who talk over the direct line every Wednesday, have decided to be more lenient to fishing boats that inadvertently cross the maritime boundary from the other side. “We have decided that if fishing boats stray just a little inside, they will not be apprehended, but warned and sent back. The conversations I had with my Pakistani counterpart Rear Admiral Mohammed Asif Sandila mainly concern fishing boats. Today, in fact, he told me that some Indian boats had strayed across, but that they were not apprehended. The system is working,” Director General of the Coast Guard, Rear Admiral RF Contractor said on Wednesday, a day ahead of the force’s 30th anniversary on Thursday. Every year, around 1,000 fishermen from both the sides stray across. As many as 115 Indian fishermen were repatriated by Islamabad on January 9, as a goodwill gesture. However, around 347 more are still languishing in Pakistani jails.Contractor said the Coast Guard was currently training 1,162 state police personnel toward the formation of a maritime police force that will finally give states the wherewithal to govern waters up to 12 miles out at sea. “We will help the states in setting up everything. We will provide them with the know-how and train them in the use of equipment until they can function autonomously,” he said.
