Pakistan’s fishermen cast around for a solution

Daily Times (Pakistan)
February 24, 2006

By Aziz Sanghur

KARACHI: Tears well up in Aasi's eyes as she narrates the story of how her two sons were arrested by the Indian Maritime Security Agency about a year ago as they were fishing in Pakistani waters in the Arabian Sea.

Living on the edge of the city, in a tiny bamboo hut amid the teeming fishing community of Ibrahim Hyderi, sixty-year-old Aasi is worried sick for her sons, Siddiq Wasayo and Achir Mullah and constantly prays for their return.

"We don't have any other bread earner. We are compelled to sleep without food almost every day since my sons were arrested," Aasi said, while speaking to Daily Times on Thursday.

She has been in hospital ever since her sons were arrested. Her health almost immediately deteriorated after she was given news of their arrest. Aasi is frail and cannot walk even for a little bit.

"We fisherfolk go to the sea to fish every day because that is the only source of income for us. And we are being arrested on charges of crossing the border. We don't even know where the border starts in the sea," she said.

Aasi fears for the lives of her sons. She said that she had heard how fishermen were killed after they were arrested. She claims that her sons have completed their time in prison, but the Indian authorities won't let them go.

Fishermen from both Pakistan and India often stray into each other's territorial waters and are caught by patrolling security forces. At present, close to 50 pakistani fishermen are detained in different Indian jails, along with 28 of their boats. Similarly, 280 Indian fishermen are also languishing in Pakistan jails along with 250 of their boats.

Mohammed Ali Shah of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) said that a large number of fishermen were still doling time in jail in both countries, even after spending the last five to ten years there. Shah said the families of the arrested Pakistani fishermen were living in terrible conditions and were facing starvation and disease, since there is no one to take care of them after their men were arrested.

Asked about the border that separates Pakistan and Indian in the Arabian Sea, Shah said there was none. He said unfortunately, due to a controversy over the Sir Creek border, no permanent sea borderlines have so far been settled between both countries. He said: "For their own convenience, the patrolling agencies have worked out an imaginary line along the Sir Creek region, off the coast of Kutch, where thousands of Pakistani and Indian fishermen work." "We know the dangers of venturing out into the deep seas are great. But if we fail to catch a good quantity of fish every day, we will not earn enough and our families will go hungry. So everybody takes a bit of a risk of going into the middle of the ocean," said Bilal, 50, a fishermen of Ibrahim Hyderi.

Saeed Baloch of the PFF said that the fishermen of both countries did not cross into each other's territory on purpose. But they couldn't help it if there were strong tidal currents, high winds, and a lack of adequate navigation equipment or engine failure. Baloch said the arrested fishermen were always jailed for spying.

Hundreds of coastal communities and civil society activists staged a protest hunger strike on tuesday in Karachi/Pakistan on the eve of Sindh Province visit of an Asian Development Bank Delegation. Following is the report of the protest

published by Daily DAWN Karachi.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/03/08/local14.htm