Fishing for a solution

Both sides need to acknowledge that the poor fisherfolk of both countries never have presented a security threat.

It is not possible to draw a line in the water, and the maritime borders between India and Pakistan are no more defined than are maritime borders anywhere in the world. Today, satellite navigation systems allow pinpoint precision — but not all vessels have them and poor fishermen, often illiterate never mind computer-savvy, accidentally fall foul of the international border. Few — if any — from either country, violate the borders with espionage in mind — they are just trying to make a living. Currently, according to reports, there are 226 of our fishermen in Indian jails, some of them since 1993, and many of them have completed their sentences but have yet to be released.



On April 11, the Supreme Court urged the Indian authorities to act in a humanitarian way and release, at least, those that had completed their sentences. For its part, the Indian Supreme Court issued a judgment in March 2010 seeking the release of fisherfolk that Pakistan has detained. Of all the problems faced by India and Pakistan this is, perhaps, the one most susceptible to an early solution. There is to be an international judicial conference in the coming week and an Indian delegation will attend. This would be an ideal forum in which to conduct a dialogue, to explore what mechanisms and protocols there might be in order to resolve the matter. Pakistan has already released 471 Indian fisherfolk but the Indian response was less than generous — they released just 66. This source of tension is largely artificial, and both sides need to acknowledge that the poor fisherfolk of both countries do not and never have, presented a security threat. The fisherfolk are unlikely to be embracing the wonders of modern technology anytime soon, but are always going to need to ply their trade and feed their families. They are not seeking to provoke an international incident and it is usually obvious to the coastguard ships of both sides that they are not discovering a boatload of spies or seaborne terrorists — just simple fisherfolk. This problem could be made to go away relatively easily and we urge both governments to act wisely rather than perpetuating a needless irritation.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2014.

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