As many as 89 Indian fishermen released by the Pakistan government as part of goodwill gesture, were handed over to the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) at Wagha Border on Friday.
Talking to the media before crossing the border, most of the fishermen said they were pleased with the treatment meted out to them in Landhi Jail, Karachi. We were looked after and given good food. We have no complaints with the jail authorities in Pakistan, said Muhammad Abbas, a 55-year old fisherman from Indian state of Gujrat. He was arrested by Maritime authorities of Pakistan on the charge of illegally fishing in the country s jurisdiction 16 months back.
Muhammad Abbas asked both countries to sit together to resolve the serious issue, saying they were not criminals but only poor fishermen who used to cross the jurisdiction of Pakistan inadvertently in deep sea. There is no marked boundary in the sea, so anybody from both sides of the divide could cross the limit, he said, adding that the fishermen should be pushed back to their respective countries by the forces instead of arresting and putting them in jails. He claimed that there were still 252 more fishermen in the Landhi Jail of Karachi, requesting both Indian and Pakistan authorities to end animosities and release the detained without any delay.
Another fisherman, Rajkumar, hailing from Indian state of Bihar, claimed that he was arrested 16 months ago while fishing. He appreciated the jail authorities in Pakistan who had treated them (fishermen) well and they had to face no difficulty in contacting with their family members in India. I used to write letters to my family in India, he said, appealing to the Indian government to immediately release all Pakistani fishermen detained in different jails. Earlier, talking with the media, Haider Ali an NGO worker who arranged for the expenditures of the release and traveling of Indian fishermen
back to their country claimed that 89 Indian fishermen, out of total 341 detained in Pakistan, were released on Friday.
