Humanitarian grounds: Appeal to Pakistan, India govts to release fisherfolk prisoners

LAHORE: Around 750 fisherfolk prisoners are currently being held in jails in India and Pakistan for crossing the water borders. They have been sentenced by the courts to prison terms, usually six months, for violating the respective country’s Passport Act. However, the release of these prisoners is not as quick as their arrest and imprisonment, as they often remain in each other’s jails well beyond their sentence periods.

Organisations representing people of the South Asian region deeply impacted by the current situation have written letters to the prime minister of Pakistan and India seeking their urgent attention and intervention for the release of the fishermen.

The organisations are the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, National Fishworkers Forum (India), South Asian Solidarity Collective, Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy, Pakistan Civil Society Forum (PCSF), South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) and Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (PILER).

As per records, 654 Indian fishermen are in Pakistan’s Landhi jail, Karachi. Out of that, 631 fishermen have already completed their sentences for long and their nationality is also confirmed. Similarly, Pakistan’s 83 fishermen are in various prisons in Gujarat and as per fisher organisation records, 118 Pakistani fishers are in Indian jails. Most of them have completed their sentences and their nationality is also confirmed.

These people were arrested way back 2015-16 till 2022 and many of them have already served several times the period of the actual sentence.

The Bilateral Agreement on Consular Access, 2008, is quite clear on the issue. Section (v) of the agreement says, “Both governments agree to release all persons within one month of confirmation of their national status and completion of their sentences”. Not releasing them is a clear violation of the agreement and highly inhuman.

“We request both of you to kindly take an active interest in the issue and make sure that these innocent fishers on both sides are released in the holy month of Ramazan. India and Pakistan must use this occasion to release and repatriate fishermen from each other’s countries. We also request both to make arrangements for the return of the fishing boats,” said the letter to the two PMs written by the organisations representing the South Asian region.

The arrested fishermen suffer in the prison of another country while their families suffer financially and psychologically. In many cases their children have been forced to discontinue their education, note the letter.

Unfortunately, fishermen are arrested for crossing the water border ‘inadvertently’. Ideally, they should not have been arrested and should be pushed back to their country’s water if other countries’ marine agencies (Maritime Security Agency - Pakistan or Indian Coast Guard) found them entering the other country’s territorial waters.

“We use this occasion to request both of you to make sure that the Joint Judicial Committee mechanism instituted earlier in 2008 and was functional till 2013, be re-vitalised and initiated as a mark of recognition of this grave humanitarian issue.

“The issue needs a human touch. We hope you will oblige us and the families of the fishermen by releasing and repatriating the fishermen on the occasion of the auspicious days of Ramzan and Budh Purnima,” the letter concluded.