Fishermen’s patron celebrates Independence Day at Wagah

Since Indian journalist Jatin Desai visited Pakistan in 2003 for the second time, he could sense the sufferings of the fishing community of two countries and till date he celebrates Independence Days of India and Pakistan at Wagah Border.

 “They get arrested mid-sea by the Indian Coast Guard or Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency (MSA) for no fault of theirs”, Desai told Mumbai Mirror.

Hundreds of Pakistani and Indian fishermen, who earn bread by spending their days and nights in sea often, find themselves in the midst of this ‘uncharted territory’, consciously or unconsciously. The result on both sides of the border is same —long wait in the neighboring country’s jail for their government’s heed and concern towards them.

The peaceful sight seer narrates tales of how these poor fisher men cross the unseen borders in the sea and face heavy consequences later on. “All their stories are either of miscalculations made while negotiating the sea or errors in direction, both of which have to do with the absence of a clear demarcation of boundaries in the waters”, Desai asserted.

While giving interview to a local Indian publication he gave his two cents on the deadly outcomes once this invisible border is crossed by sharing few traumatic stories by adding that whenever a fisherman who has been arrested from the other side of the border dies, it takes at least a month for his body to reach his relatives back home. Fishermen Vaaga Chauhan and Ratan Das, both from Una in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, were reportedly arrested by Pakistani authorities when their boats strayed into the country’s waters. Though they died in Karachi on December 12, 2015 and February 8, 2016, respectively, their bodies arrived in India months later, only on April 14, 2018. Simultaneously, Nawaz Ali’s body reached Pakistan a month after his death”, says Desai.

However, these stories are lost somewhere deep down in the sea with no solid measures taken from both sides of the borders. However, Jatin Desai stays optimistic about thes future of Indo-Pak relations especially after Imran Khan’s selection as Pakistan’s upcoming Prime minister and ceases the discussion with an advice of releasing all fishermen, women and other innocents from the prisons of the other country as this he believes will send a positive message and reduce tension drastically.