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India’s National Fishworkers Forum Demand release of all Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails / Families from coastal villages in Pakistan protest fishermen’s arrest

19 December 2013

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National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF)
Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD India)
C/O: F-10/12, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi – 110017
Phones: 011-26687725 / 09582862682 / 09869077718
Email: jatindesai123@gmail.com / pipfpd@pipfpd.org

Urgent Press Release

Gujarat fishworkers delegation meets the Prime Minister: Demand release of all Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails along with their boats

New Delhi – 19th December 2013: Today, a ten member delegation of fishermen of Saurashtra, along with leaders of Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD), National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) and a delegation of MPs from Gujarat, met with the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh at the latter’s residence.

The fisher leaders from Gujarat’s Saurashtra region came to Delhi to meet with the Prime Minister, the Agriculture Minister Shri. Sharad Pawar and the Minister for External Affairs Shri. Salman Khurshid in order to brief the political leadership regarding the issue of jailed Indian and Pakistani fishermen. They also demanded immediate release of boats of Pakistani fisherpeople, kept in the custody of the Indian Government. Shri. Jivan Jungi, National Committee Member, PIPFPD and on behalf of Akhil Gujarat Machhimar Mahamandal raised the issue of a fellow fisherman being killed by Pakistan’s MSA. Raising the issue of Shri. Naranbhai Sosa, the fisherman who was killed in firing by Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency (MSA) in October, the delegation urged the PM to support the family of Mr. Sosa from the PM’s Relief Fund.

Fishworkers told the PM that the arrests by Indian Coastguards and MSA have increased manifold in the recent months since the monsoon trawl ban has been lifted in September 2013. Hundreds have been arrested and put behind bars, most of them being Indian fishermen, now in Pakistani jails. At present, around 229 Indian fishermen and about 780 Indian boats are in the custody of Pakistan. In addition to this, 23 boats of Indian fishermen have been confiscated just during the ongoing fishing season. Similarly, around 200 Pakistani fishermen and 150 Pakistani boats are with India.

The delegation, accompanied by Gujarat Congress leader and MP, Shri Arjun Modhwadia made the following other demands:

• Implement a ‘No Arrest Policy’ for Pakistani fishers, while fishing in Indian waters
• India must take the lead and work out an Economic Co-operation Agreement so as to have fishing rights for fisherpeople from both sides to be able to fish in a joint fishing zone
• Unilateral and unconditional release of all Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails
• Release of all Pakistani boats, under Indian custody
• A separate Fisheries Ministry at the Centre
• Centralised (national) Identity Cards for all fishermen who go to sea
• Implementation of the interim recommendations by the India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners
• The Indian Government to constitute a high-level working group involving the representatives from the fishing community to monitor and prevent the arrest of fishermen and confiscation of the boats
• Facilitation of Indian and Pakistani fisher people’s delegations to go to the other country to survey the condition of their boats in the custody of the other country
• An urgent meeting be arranged of the Task Force consisting of Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan’s MSA and a proper inquiry be conducted in the case of Naranbhai Sosa’s killing

Dr. Singh responded to the delegations demands positively. He assured the team that efforts will be taken by the UPA government to release the Pakistani fisherpeople in Indian jails along with their boats – as early as possible. He suggested that he could only expect a reciprocal similar action from the democratic government of Pakistan led by Mr. Nawaz Sharif.

The Prime Minister promised the delegation that the request for financial assistance to Mr. Sosa’s family will be considered by the PMO and action taken.

Agreeing that the fisherpeople are caught between the two South Asian conflicting neighbours, Dr. Singh asserted that his government would not leave any stone unturned to protect the lives and livelihood of fisherpeople of Saurashtra, Gujarat. He requested the delegation to also meet with the Agriculture Minister and the Minister of External Affairs to take forward demands specific to these ministries.

The delegation included the following fishworkers from Saurashtra along with Vijayan MJ (representing the PIPFPD):

Delegation of Gujarat Fishworkers from Porbandar includes:
Shri Dilipbhai Naranbhai Lodhari
Shri Narshibhai Kanjibhai Jungi
Shri Bhartbhai Dhanjibhai Modi
Shri Sunilbhai Devjibhai Gohel
Shri Hirenbhai Narshibhai Lodhari
Shri Chhaganbhai Gokarbhai Lodhari
Shri Nileshbhai Kanji Postaria

o o o

Dawn, 18 December 2013

Families from coastal villages protest fishermen’s arrest

by Shazia Hasan

KARACHI: Men, women and children from Atharki, Shah Bunder, Keti Bunder, Chach Jehan Khan and Jati in Thatta and the coastal villages of Karachi who have been separated from their family members gathered outside the Karachi Press Club here on Tuesday to raise their voice against the injustice that fishermen on either side of the Pakistan-India border are subjected to as a result of their straying into the neighbouring country’s territorial waters.

Tears rolled down little Maina’s cheeks as she told Dawn that her father and four uncles, all fishermen, were locked up somewhere in India after going missing at sea about a year ago.

Naseema, holding her eight-month-old son in one arm and her husband Sulaiman’s photograph in the other, said that only God knows how she had been feeding her family for the past 11 months after her husband had gone missing. “I have three children and this here is the youngest of them,†she cried hugging her baby close.

“Our men were our only support. We have become beggars in their absence,†Maryam said, adding that she hailed from Rehri Goth where several male members of their family including her aged maternal grandfather were still missing.

Sakina, a mother from Thatta, said her five sons, namely, Yaqoob, Mohammad, Ali, Hussain and Nathu, had been missing for the past 11 months. Her son, Abu, said the five fishermen were aboard his boat Al-Muneer when they all went missing along with the boat.

Haji Yousuf said he heard that his four nephews and six others on his boat were all arrested 11 months ago. “I have no news of them other than that they were picked up by the Indian navy,†he added.

Husna from Rehri Goth said that her paternal uncle, Zaman, maternal uncle, Usman Sachu, and cousin, also named Usman, were among the unlucky few whose boat was pushed into Indian waters during a cyclone in 1999. “One of my uncles, Nawaz, has also died in an Indian prison and his body was sent back here last year. God knows if the others will make it here alive,†she wept.

Sitting on the road divider, an elderly mother, Amna, quietly watched the others chanting slogans for their loved ones to be freed. She was there for her son, Aziz, who she said had been missing for the past 15 years. “I recently got a word from another fishermen released from India that my son is alive. I pray God keeps him safe. I wish him to return home in my lifetime,†she said.

Speaking to the media, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) spokesman Sami Memon said: “There are 183 Pakistani fishermen currently languishing in Indian jails. And 63 of them have been there for 19 years now.

“The Indian government has also confiscated some 300 boats that were the only means of livelihood for several families in our coastal villages.â€

PFF Chairperson Mohammad Ali Shah said his organisation had been fighting for the poor fishermen of both Pakistan and India. “I appeal to the governments of both countries to think about the poor fishermen. They are all innocent people. If they crossed into the other’s territory, they did it unknowingly as there is no line indicating the border in the sea,†he said.

“Under Article 73 of the UN Convention, no fishermen unknowingly crossing over to another country can be picked up, arrested and kept in jail for years. It is ironic that both Pakistan and India are signatories to this. Yet there are so many fishermen locked up in the prisons of both countries,†he regretted.