Twenty Indian fishermen who are citizens of Gujarat and the part of 350 other Indian fishers lodged in Landhi jail in Karachi will be released today. On Saturday a senior jail officer said that on Sunday morning the fishermen will be released from jail. They are transported to the Wagah-Attari border and will be handed over to the Indian authorities on the next day.
Pakistan Maritime Security Force (PMSF) arrested the fishermen for illegally fishing in Pakistan’s water and they handed over them to the dock police. Shreedhar Chamre was killed in mid-sea, a fisherman of Palghar in Maharashtra. Besides that during the firing, Dilip Solanki the captain of that fishing boat was injured. The other six persons of that boat Jal Pari were reportedly abducted and carried to Pakistan by PMSF.
The fishermen who will be released from jail come from the Gir Somnath and Porbandar districts of Gujarat. The releasing decision has been taken after India released 10 Pakistani fishers on 2nd November. They were imprisoned by Indian governments for violating Indian territorial waters.
A non-profit social welfare organization The Edhi Trust Foundation has organized the procedure. They arranged that all the 20 fishermen can safely reach the Wagah border. Social worker and award-winning philanthropist Faisal Edhi, son of late Abdul Sattar Edhi said that the foundation arranged the process. They will send the fishermen through a bus and will give them some gifts and cash. He said to the press, “they are being released from Landhi jail in Karachi.”
The welfare organization is now continuously working on getting back to home the poor Indian and Pakistani fishermen lodged in jail in both countries. There are around 600 fishermen in Pakistan. Faisal confirmed now there are dozens of poor Indian fishermen in Landhi and Malir jails after being arrested by PMSF.
Besides releasing the fishers, the people and social activists associated with fisheries in Gujarat are also demanding releasing the 1,200 boats taken by PMSF. The Indian government assured them about it.
The jail authority also added that the other 350 fishers will be released after confirmation through their nationality by the foreign office channels from both countries India and Pakistan. In the last year, the Pakistan government has released several numbers of Indian fishers as a gesture of goodwill.
