India unresponsive to goodwill gestures: Qureshi

Minister says New Delhi in no mood to deescalate tensions

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Friday that despite Pakistan releasing 360 Indian fishermen and also returning pilot Abhinandan Varthaman as a goodwill gesture, New Delhi seemed to be in no mood to deescalate tensions.

“Our stance has always remained that any fisherman or other citizen who accidentally crosses the border should be returned. The Foreign Office and High Commission have repeatedly taken up this issue with India,” the minister told lawmakers in the National Assembly in response to a query about fishermen from Karachi and Thatta languishing in Indian jails.

“We try to provide as much legal protection as possible to the Indians who accidentally enter our territory. However, the process of their identification has to be carried out,” he added.

“This is a human issue. People on both sides cross the border by mistake in search of their livelihoods.”



The minister said India wanted to create unrest in the region and was trying to link Pakistan to the Pulwama attack despite the fact that there was no evidence.

Qureshi further said the government would welcome the opposition’s suggestions to address the issue of the Pakistani fishermen in Indian prisons.

MNA Faheem Khan said Pakistan returned fishermen to India safe and sound but received dead bodies of their own in return.
Parliamentary Secretary on Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas told the house that 210 Pakistani fishermen and 375 other citizens were locked up in Indian jails.

“We are making efforts for their release,” she added.
“International pressure on India is increasing and it will release four Pakistani fishermen on May 14.”

She also accused the previous governments of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for not taking enough steps for the release of Pakistani fishermen in the last 10 years.

In response, PPP MNA Qadir Patel said the parliamentary secretary’s response was unsatisfactory.
“We are talking about goodwill while our citizens are being tortured in Indian jails,” he remarked.

He said the body of a fisherman from Karachi’s Keamari area was left at the Wagah border by Indian authorities. The body decomposed there for 17 days,” he added.

In other proceedings, the interior ministry submitted a written response to the house on the agreement between the government and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik.

In the document, Interior Minister Brigadier (retd) Ijaz Shah stated that the agreement was reached in 2018 through the Punjab government.

The government agreed to review the justified demands of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik. It was also requested that Aasia Bibi’s name be placed on the exit control list. The government also agreed to release Tehreek-e-Labbaik activists arrested for rioting. The Tehreek-e-Labbaik apologised for causing inconvenience to the public. Police arrested and booked 44 leaders and activists who participated in riots between November 1 and November 3 last year.