After over a year, nine fishermen to reunite with families today

Fishermen association claims over 150 of their men still stuck behind bars in India

KARACHI: After spending more than a year behind bars in India, nine fishermen will reunite with their families in Karachi today.

Out of the nine fishermen, Muhammad Yousaf Bengali, Siraj Mian Bengali, Kabeer Ahmed Bengali, Kaleemullah Bengali, Imam Hussain Bengali and Muhammad Aminullah Pathan belong to Karachi while Waso Mirbehar, Pappu Mirbehar and Abbas Ali Makhro belong to Sujawal, confirmed the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum - an organisation working for the rights of the fishermen community.



The small group reached Wagah border on Wednesday morning and took the train to Karachi, with the help of Edhi Foundation.  They are scheduled to arrive at Karachi's cantonment railway station on Thursday morning.

Murky waters

These fishermen who were on board two boats, Rahimon No. 12698-B and Gul Samad No. 17070-B, were captured on October 2014 by the Indian authorities who suspected them of crossing the borders on purpose.



After receiving news that these fishermen have been released, the families are eagerly waiting for their arrival. Makhro's father, Pir Mubarak, said that his 22-year-old son has not been in contact with the family for the last 17 months. "No one knows which jail he was in and how he spent his time there," he told The Express Tribune.

A total of 14 fishermen were detained by the Indian authorities near Kajhar Creek while they were fishing in the deep sea, Mubarak pointed out. "We were informed about the detention of my son the very next day by the fishermen who witnessed the arrest," he said.



Mubarak is part of the community of professional fishermen and this was the first time the village lost one of its men to the Indian authorities. "My family never heard a single word about my son until now, when we were told the biggest news of our lives," he said, his voice betraying his excitement. "We were ruined after Abbas's arrest."



Soon after he was told about Makhro' release, Mubarak rushed to Karachi from his native Muhammad Shah village in Sujawal district.

The release of these fishermen has given hope to other fishermen, said PFF chairperson Muhammad Ali Shah. According to the fishermen association, around 150 fishermen are still languishing behind bars in India. "It is a political decision to release fishermen from both sides. It depends on the will of the governments," he explained.

Shah claimed that several fishermen in India have served their sentences but they have yet to be released. There are several others whose cases have been pending in courts for several months.

In June last year, 88 Pakistani fishermen were released as a gesture of goodwill. During the meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Russia last year, both the countries agreed to release fishermen detained on both sides of the border along with their boats within 15 days.



Neither were the fishermen released within the agreed time nor were their captured boats given back to them, said Shah. "The [detained] fishermen face hardships even after release because it is a major financial loss," he said, adding that a boat can cost up to Rs500,000. It was a common practice on both sides of the border to release fishermen along with their boats but that is no longer the case, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2016.