Following up on Pakistan’s decision to release boats seized from Indian fishermen, the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi has issued visas to eight Indian fishermen community leaders and an official of the Gujarat fisheries department to enable them to visit Pakistan and take the matter further.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced the decision on the eve of his visit to Delhi in May 2014 for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The issue was again raised when the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers during the SAARC summit in Nepal, November 2014.
An eight-member delegation of leaders of fishermen community and an official of the Gujarat fisheries department is now visiting Pakistan to complete formalities to bring back 57 seized boats anchored at Karachi, reports the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Indian Member of Parliament Parimal Nathwani had written to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif urging him to expedite visa processing to the delegation.
Assistant Director, Gujarat Fisheries department, Dr P. C. Malli told PTI that Pakistan High Commission office has informed the fisheries department that it has issued visa to the members of the delegation for one month, for Karachi city.
Both countries limit the visits of the others’ citizens to cities rather than issuing visas valid for the entire country.
In the letter to Sharif, MP Nathwani had said it was imperative to bring these seized fishing boats back on humanitarian grounds as they serve as a means of livelihood to hundreds of fishermen and their families.
The eight-member team comprising leaders of fishermen community and an official of the Gujarat fisheries department “have been camping in Delhi for last one week and awaiting visa,” he had written.
Documents related to the seized boats had already been sent to the authorities concerned in Pakistan, said Malli. “The delegation will try to complete all the formalities for bringing the boats back.”
The visit was necessary to verify and check the sea worthiness of the seized boats. They all require minor or major repairs before the Indian authorities can physically take them back.
“Either Pakistan can release the 114 fishermen who are lodged in jails there to ferry the boats back or grant visa to an equal number of fishermen from Gujarat who can go to Karachi for repair works and bring them to India,” suggested Malli.
