RIGHTS: Glimmer of Hope for Detained Pakistani Fishermen

• by Zofeen Ebrahim (karachi, pakistan)
• Monday, December 28, 2009
• Inter Press Service

Owing to the long-drawn out political tensions between the two countries, the sentence has stretched to 16 years and counting.

On Dec. 25, Asi finally saw a glimmer hope when Pakistan, in a gesture of goodwill, released 100 Indian fishermen, including nine juveniles, from prison. This gave her reason to hope that India would do the same and release the Pakistani fishermen in its custody. There are yet no indications, however, that it will happen, or when, assuming it will.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ordered the release of the Indian fishermen, who had been apprehended for straying into Pakistan’s waters and had been in Pakistan jails for over three years.

Other sectors welcomed the news.

'Not just the fishermen but all of us were excited and happy for this surprising bit of news. I hope India reciprocates with the same magnanimity,' Ashraf Nizamani, jail superintendent in Malir town in eastern Karachi, where the fishermen were held, told IPS in a phone interview.

Based on official data, Pakistani fishermen in Indian custody number around 200, as opposed to over 400 Indian fishermen detained in Pakistani jails just before Christmas day.

Asi, who appears to be in her 80s (being unlettered, she could not remember her age when asked), has wept herself blind as she anxiously awaits her sons’ release each day. Over the last 16 years, she has received only nine letters from them, the last of which came almost a year ago.

'It was a time to rejoice,' said Bachal, Asi’s other son, who described the latest missive from his brothers as equivalent to 'half a visit' although it left his mother crying uncontrollably for hours.

She has kept the precious letters from her sons, which she asks her family to read to her over and over again.

'At least they are alive!' said Bachal, averting his mother’s eyes, which have welled up again. Like his two jailed brothers, Bachal earns his keep as a fisherman. Since his brothers’ incarceration, he has been supporting 15 family members, including his detained brothers’ families’ and a jobless younger brother who suffers from tuberculosis.

In the last 20 years, a total of 4,516 Indian fishermen and 729 boats have been apprehended by Pakistan, according to a 2008 study done by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), a non-governmental organisation working for the rights of indigenous fishing communities.

Sources said that when smaller vessels cannot find fish near the shore, they head further into the sea, straying into foreign shores.

Mohammad Ali Shah conceded that depletion of fish stock is due to over-fishing. Yet, much of it is because of the 'granting of licenses to foreign trawlers that fish all year round.' Thus, he said, he does not consider crossing borders or straying into another country’s waters a crime. 'There is no visible demarcation in water and many times it is unintentional while going after catch, or when a strong current takes the boat to the other side,' Shah argued.

'Even if it were done intentionally, it’s not a crime,' added Shah, citing Article 73 (titled ‘Enforcement of Laws and Regulations of the Coastal State’) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which he said states that arrested vessels and crew are to be promptly released 'upon the posting of reasonable bond or other security' and should not result in imprisonment or corporal punishment.

Fishermen crossing borders is a widespread phenomenon, he said. When neighbouring countries, such as India and Pakistan, do not enjoy peaceful relations, it takes on a politically ugly hue with serious repercussions on the families of the affected fishermen to which, he says, both governments remain indifferent.

Shah further rued that apprehended fishermen languish in jails on either side long after completion of their sentence, calling it a gross human rights violation.

'The treatment of these fisherman is a blot on both India and Pakistan's record as responsible states as, more often than not, what the fisherman experience is both illegal and inhumane,' said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia Researcher with the Human Rights Watch.

Four years after the capture of Asi’s sons, along with three other kin, including her son-in-law, by Indian authorities, she and her family were forced to migrate from their village, Kharo Kun, located in Shah Bandar—a coastal town in Thatta district in Sindh province—to Ibrahim Hyderi, a poor neighbourhood in the port city of Karachi, in search of work.

Nasir Ali Panhwar, programme coordinator of Indus for All Programme, World Wildlife Fund in Pakistan, said that through the years, fishermen’s income from fishing has fallen significantly, and communities have been forced to migrate to seek other forms of employment.

Panhwar added that fishermen and their families are forced to fish off-season, leading to fish depletion. 'Previously, they practiced supplementary agriculture that provided them with grain and compensated for reduced incomes during off-season.' But due to their land having become water-logged and saline as a result of sea-intrusion, fishing is all they do.

Bachal himself is stuck with fishing, for now at least, not knowing any other source of livelihood. 'The fire in these stomachs is far stronger than the fear of being apprehended,' he said.

Even after detained fishermen are released from jail, there is no guarantee that they can readily return to their old job. When fishermen are captured, said Shah, their boats are apprehended as well. 'Each boat costs an equivalent of between 3,000 to 3,600 U.S. dollars,' he added. 'These vessels are never returned even if the fishermen are. For many small Pakistani fishermen, this is like a death blow. Without a boat, there is no fish to catch. They buy their boats either on installment or by taking out huge loans.'

But none of these appear to worry Asi, whose foremost concern is to see her sons back as she awaits a reciprocal gesture from India.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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