Karachi: Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday asked the government to submit the details of fishermen exchanged between Pakistan and India. Fishermen are frequently detained for straying into each other territorial waters unknowingly.
A non government organisation (NGO) had filed the petition in the SHC for repatriation of at least 460 Pakistani fishermen who were languishing in Indian jails.
The Pakistani foreign office came up with the details of the 271 Pakistanis whose arrest was confirmed by the Indian authorities. However, there was no validation of the remaining 189 fishermen, who are also believed to be in Indian prisons.
The SHC bench headed by the provincial chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah, ordered the officials to come up with all the details of Indian fishermen in the Pakistani jails and the Pakistani fishermen who were in the Indian custody.
In late March Pakistan released 86 Indian fishermen held for trespassing into the country’s territorial waters. A batch of 86 Indian fishermen was released early March leaving 363 Indian fishermen in the Karachi prisons.
Indian and Pakistani fishermen are frequently detained for illegal fishing since the Arabian Sea border is not clearly defined and many boats lack the technology to fix their precise locations.
The fishermen often languish in jail even after serving their terms, as poor diplomatic ties between the two arch-rivals slows up bureaucratic requirements for release.
