As many as 16 fishermen from Karachi are expected to reach their homes Friday after languishing in Indian jails for 17 months under the charges of trespassing international water boundaries in September 2012.
A senior official of Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Ltd, Ghulam Rasool Shaikh, told APP Thursday that the released Pakistanis were among 17 of the crews of fishing boat “Al-Khair 14050-B” that had inadvertently crossed the international boundary that holds no prominent demarcation. “One of the crew members, Shahnawaz, son of Malang, has been detained owing to reasons known only to the Indian authorities,” said the manager of welfare department of FCS.
The official said that FCSL could not receive these fishermen due to paucity of time that is generally the practice, however, immediately approached Edhi to ensure boarding lodging and transportation facilities for these FCSL members.
Those released include Shahid, Abdul Rasheed, Mohammad Ali, Ganj Baksh, Ghulam Mohammad, Zaheer Ullah Khan, Abdul Haleem, Mohammad Aslam, Shabbir Chunoo, Abdul Razzak, Ali, Syed Ali Khan, Mohammad Nazir, Mohammad Anwar, Babul, Amir Baksh and Bahadur Ali alias Raju.
Shaikh Ghulam Rasool in reply to another question said around 123 fishermen were still in Indian jails and awaiting their release.
“It is unfortunate that our neighbours are not sympathetic towards these hapless souls while on the contrary we Pakistanis have always been more compassionate,” he said. The FCSL official said it was in June 2013 that 14 of the Pakistani fishermen were released by the Indians while Pakistan in the same year had freed more than 200 Indian fishermen. To another query, Ghulam Rasool Shaikh said confiscation of fishing boats by the two authorities was also an issue that was needed to be addressed as this denies people of their source of livelihood.