‘India will soon release Pakistani fishermen’

800,000 survivors only accessible by air

ISLAMABAD: The Indian government is preparing documents of Pakistani fishermen lodged in Indian jails and they will be handed over to Islamabad soon, the Indian High Commission has conveyed this to the ministry of foreign affairs.

Deputy Attorney General Abid Saqi on Thursday informed a division bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, while submitting a report of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum on behalf of the foreign ministry.

Iqbal Haider Advocate submitted before the bench that 454 Indian fishermen (out of a total 582 currently detained in Pakistan) have completed their sentences but are not being handed over to the Indian authorities.

He informed the bench that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has assured the release of those Indian fishermen but he has not received any response from the interior ministry in this regard.

He requested the bench to direct the Sindh government to release those Indian prisoners as the Sindh government has kept them in illegal confinement.

This is the job of interior ministry, not the Sindh government, Chief Justice Iftikahr Muhammad Chaudhry remarked, assuring the counsel that the interior ministry will solve the problem soon.

Meanwhile, Abid Saqi submitted the report of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum on behalf of the Foreign Office, saying that the Indian high commission has assured the Pakistani Foreign Office to release the Pakistani fishermen as soon as their documentation are completed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2010.