Calling for ‘empathy’ in the relationship between India and Pakistan, experts on Friday said that the governments of the two countries should focus on releasing innocent fishermen lodged in prisons.
‘Taking hostages’
At a discussion organised by Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai on Friday, experts said that the arrests of innocent fishermen was like “taking hostages”.
The discussion was held in the wake of the recent release of prisoners Hamid Ansari and Imran Warsi by Pakistan and India.
Blaming bureaucracy and the system for preventing people from being sent back at the earliest, senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai said, “Empathy is a very important element in the India-Pakistan relationship. People from the two countries cannot be merely classified as Indians and Pakistanis. Both the countries need to show that they care beyond boundaries, without treating people from other countries as terrorists, spies or anti-nationals.”
Activist Jatin Desai said that more than a thousand Indian fishing boats are in the custody of the Pakistani authorities.
“One boat costs ₹50 lakh. While the dialogue between the two countries must go on uninterrupted, emotions and sentiments of the people need to also be recognised. Fishermen often don’t realise when they are crossing over to the other side. India and Pakistan need to be more sensitive,” he said.
Asking the two countries to educate the fishermen instead of arresting them, senior journalist Nirupama Subramanian, said, “It is no government’s business arresting innocent fishermen. Fishermen will go where fish is available. The filling of jails with them is only to keep bargaining chips. What the government needs to do instead is take a stand that it will not arrest any fisherman and will instead educate them.”
Sri Lankan border
Ms. Subramanian cited an example of fishing communities in the south coast that shares its border with Sri Lanka. “On the east coast, fishing communities sit together and decide. If the fish is limited, they don’t poach on each other’s catch. The government takes them to different areas and teaches different ways in which fishing can be done. The solution on the west coast needs to be tailored as well,” she said.
Celebrating Hamid Ansari’s safe return to India, the panel called for a greater and consistent emphasis to be laid on the plight of the fishermen. “Hamid Ansari was fortunate as his mother fought for him. Fishermen are not articulate enough. They have no face. Are they nobody’s citizens?” Mr. Sardesai asked.