42 Indian fishermen arrested in PMSA operation

Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on Saturday arrested at least 42 fishermen belonging to Indian Gujarat and also seized eight boats near the Gujarat coast.

A PMSA spokesperson said that the Indian fishing launches were seized by the Pakistani authorities for violating the country’s coastal boundary. The operation was conducted with the help of PMSA vessels and fast attack boats, he added.

The arrested fishermen were later handed over to the Docks police to initiate further investigation.

PMSA had earlier arrested 17 Indian fishermen after they sailed into Pakistani waters on January 9. Statistics from December 2017 and January 2018 show that around 292 Indian prisoners languishing in Pakistani jails have been released on humanitarian grounds.

Fishermen belonging to India and Pakistan are frequently detained after crossing into each other’s territorial waters. The problem is made worse by the fact that the maritime border between the two countries had not been clearly defined yet.