Gujarat's 24 fishermen held by Pakistan security agency

A fishing association official said that the Pakistan Maritime Agency (PMSA) official arrested about 24 Indian fishermen from Guajarat in the Arabian Sea.

“We have learnt that around 24 fishermen, who set sail from Porbandar in Gujarat four days ago, were apprehended by the PMSA near the international maritime border,” said Manish Lodhari, the secretary of Porbandar-based National Fishworkers’ Forum.

He also informed that the PMSA seized three to four boats of the fishermen. Yet the Pakistan authorities did not confirm the exact number of fishermen held and the number of boats confiscated by the maritime agency.

Earlier in February in this year, the PMSA had arrested 42 fishermen from Gujarat and seized their boats. And in January the PMSA has arrested 17 fishermen for allegedly fishing illegally in Pakistan’s territorial waters.

At the same time, in December 2017 and in January this year, Pakistan in a goodwill gesture had also released 292 Indian fishermen who were jailed there.

According to Lodhri, the maritime security agency PMSA had apprehended about 400 fishermen and attached about 65 of their boats last year.

These continuous arrests of fishermen and boats may dent the relation between India and Pakistan as both countries has been locking horns over Kashmir issue for decades. It is yet to be seen what this arrests of fishermen send out the message to Indian authority. And how do Indian authority deal it?