Between deep sea and a hard place: Why are Indian and Pakistani fisherfolk punished for doing their job?
By Richa
Richa is a communication officer at HRLN
Over 300 Indian fishermen are currently in Pakistani prisons and 40 Pakistani fishermen are in Indian jails. These are only the latest figures in a long history of arrests, releases, re-arrests of innocent men from both countries whose only crime is accidentally straying into foreign waters while fishing.
HRLN spoke to Jatin Desai, a journalist and researcher, about the reasons for these strayings and arrests.
Desai works with ‘Focus on the Global South’, a policy, research and advocacy organisation. He is particularly vocal about peace issues involving India and Pakistan, and has advocated for the release of prisoners held in prisons in both countries.
Desai attributes the repeated arrests by maritime agencies to the economic vulnerability of traditional fishing communities. Most of these, especially those from the Gujarat region, are wholly dependent on sea fishing for their livelihood — a reality that pushes them to risk venturing out into the deep sea to catch a good haul.
Part of the reason for this, according to a report by the Hindustan Times, is that the ‘Arabian Sea does not have a clearly defined marine border and the wooden boats, used by fishermen, lack the technology to avoid them from drifting away’.
The other reason, says Desai, is increased industrialisation in India and the practice of releasing effluents into the sea, which has pushed up temperatures around the Indian coast, driving fish out to deep sea. Each year, then, Indian fishermen are forced to drive farther and farther out to catch them — and risk getting arrested.
The problem in Pakistan’s is not this pronounced because of relatively relaxed industrialisation along its coast, Desai says. Fish there are plentiful — and around the point where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea, they are also of good quality.
Therefore, because fewer Pakistani fishermen venture into Indian waters, India only has around 200 of their boats in its custody, while Pakistan holds on to 900 Indian boats. These detentions are massively inconvenient for small, vulnerable fishing communities and there have been reports of people committing suicide after losing their boats. Indian boats are large and well-equipped, with each costing about 50–60 lakh Rupees (about $77,000–92,000). The combined worth of the 900 boats in Pakistan’s custody is at least 495 crore Rupees (over $76.4 million). Compared to these, Pakistani boats are usually smaller, and more inexpensive, each costing about 25–30 lakh Rupees ($38,000–46,000).
Desai says the helplessness of the fishermen is underscored by the lack of other options for their livelihood.
“I visited about 30 minor Indian fishermen in Karachi jail in 2008. They swore that if freed, they would never go to sea again. But when I saw them in their villages a few years after their release, I found them preparing to go to sea again. They had no money.”
What else can young men from these communities, who have known nothing else in their life, do?
“Some fishermen are arrested twice or thrice in their lives,” Desai says. Each individual’s case takes about two years till resolution and release — and this is an improvement because earlier, it took longer. These men are charged under the Foreigners Act and Passport Act, under which they are sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. However, in almost every single case, they stay in prisons for at least two years, often longer.
A significant reason for this delay is the process of ‘nationality verification’. Desai explains that countries cannot repatriate people unless their claimed nationality is verified. This process needs to be shortened and there needs to be deadline imposed on it, Desai says.
“With today’s technology, it should not take this long to verify someone’s nationality,” he says.
These tedious delays also affect prison deaths, following which, each country takes several months to send back the body to the family of the deceased, further worsening their grief. These prolonged cycles of arrests, releases and red tapism hurts them immensely and destroys lives. Several families of arrested fishermen that Desai spoke to revealed that in the absence of their only earning member, they have had to pull out their children from good schools and take up odd jobs to make ends meet. Some fishermen are arrested multiple times and spend almost their whole lives shuffling in and out of prison. This suffering is unnecessary, Desai feels, which is why he insists that these issues need to be seen from a humanitarian perspective.
Desai also advocates a ‘no arrest’ policy. “If [Pakistan’s] Maritime Security Agency realises that Indian fishermen are accidentally entering its waters, it can just push them back into Indian waters. The Indian coast guard can do the same.”
Another way to help out these communities is by getting each country to release the captured boats that can, with a little repair, be reused by the released fisherfolk, lifting a big financial burden off their families.
So far, only 57 Indian boats have been released by Pakistan, but this number can easily go up to 150, Desai believes.
Further, he says, the fishing communities of both countries have no animosity against each other. In fact, the Pakistan’s fisher forum has gone on record saying that they did not mind if Indian fishermen entered their waters to catch fish; it would only bring the fishing communities from both countries come close to each other, and this, in turn, would help India and Pakistan achieve sustainable peace.
