Pakistan, India urged to release detained fishermen

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) calls on the Pakistani and Indian governments to renew their commitment to bilateral peace as they celebrate their national independence, by securing the release of over 300 fisherfolk languishing in each other’s jails.

In both cases, fisherfolk tend to hail from poor, marginalized coastal communities and, too often, are simply forgotten if arrested by their neighboring country for having strayed inadvertently into the other’s territorial waters. Their right to consular access and nationality verification is consistently violated, as a result of which repatriation is delayed for years.

This leaves them at the mercy of overcrowded jails, their plight compounded as foreigners. Meanwhile, their families at home are left one earner short, driving many further into poverty over and above the anguish of a missing family member.

The release of imprisoned fisherfolk who eke out a living in what the International Labour Organization already classifies as a ‘hazardous’ occupation, is as much about their civil liberty as it is about their economic rights.

The commission also urged both governments to implement a better mechanism by which fisherfolk are turned back when they cross the maritime boundary rather than being arrested and detained.