19 fishermen reach Karachi after release from India

A group of 19 Pakistani fishermen released from Indian jails reached the Karachi Fisheries on Friday. They were imprisoned in India since 2016.

The fishermen had been handed over to the Pakistani authorities at the Wagah border on Thursday from where they arrived in Karachi the following day. One of the fishermen released from the Indian custody has also been admitted to a hospital in Lahore due to Covid-19.

A large number of relatives of the fishermen and officials of the Fishermen’s Co-operative Society (FCS) turned up at the fisheries to receive them. Emotional scenes were witnessed when the fishermen met their loved ones after four years.

Abdul Barr, the FCS chairman, stated that there were 95 Pakistani fishermen in the Indian jails. He added that India’s response of releasing only a few of the Pakistani fishermen after Pakistan released many Indian fishermen showed lack of compassion of the Indian authorities. “It is like a drop in the ocean,” he said. The released fishermen narrated their plight in Indian jails. They said they would never go fishing near Sir Creek from where they had been caught by the Indian authorities.