345 Gujarat fishermen lodged in Pakistan jails, says state govt

A total of 345 fishermen from Gujarat are lodged in Pakistan jails as on December 2020, and 248 of them were arrested by the Pakistani authorities in the last two years. Among these fishermen, 63 are in jail for more than one year, 21 for more than three years and one fisherman is in Pakistan jail for more than five years.

The Gujarat government provided the information to state Assembly in written replies to two starred questions raised by Congress MLAs Shailesh Parmar and Ambarish Der.

In reply to a question by Parmar, Fisheries Minister Jawahar Chavda said that total 345 fishermen are languishing in Pakistan jails for the last two years, as on December 2020. Of these 345, 85 were caught in 2019 and 163 in 2020.
In reply to Der, the Fisheries minister has stated that to get the fishermen released, Gujarat government is sending necessary documents to the Union Ministry of Home for further proceedings after verification of the nationality of the fishermen.

In last two years, 17 such representations have been sent to the Centre, Chavda said. Chavda also said that 63 fishermen are in Pakistan jails for the past more than one year whereas, 21 fishermen are there in the jails for over three years. One fisherman from Gujarat is in Pakistan jail for the past over five years.

In a related question, the minister said that the governmenthas extended Rs 37.70 lakh financial assistance to the fishermen in Porbandar to install GPS in their fishing boats.

Fishermen from Gujarat are on several occasions held by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency after they cross the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL) while fishing deep into the Arabian sea.

Fishermen from Gujarat districts, such as Porbandar, Gir Somnath and Devbhumi Dwarka, mistakenly cross the maritime border in the Arabian sea and end up in Pakistani jails.

The state government has been conducting awareness programmes and also assisting fishermen in setting up GPS to alert them when they come near the IMBL, he said.

with pti inputs