Beyond enemy waters

Detained fishermen are languishing for nothing, says Abdullah Khoso

On October 11 2008, seven Indians arrived at Karachi’s Jinah Terminal Airport. The government of Gujrat, India, on behalf of Indian boat owners, had sent these men to recover confiscated boats – the poor Indian fishermen who used them now being in Pakistani jails. The purpose of the delegation was to survey the conditions of the confiscated boats for possible auction. Yet, they also brought with them letters from family members, for their loved ones now behind bars. “I will be looked on with suspicion if we are not successful in meeting with machawara (fishers),” Bharat Modi, a member of the delegate, confessed. “When I was leaving the village for the airport, to travel to Karachi, hundreds of fisherwomen gathered at my home, all wanting me to give messages to their relatives.”

According to Modi, 434 Indian fishermen now languish in Pakistani jails, almost all of them from the small village of Wanak Bara in District Diu of Gujrat, India. “There are mostly women left in the village,” Modi said. “All their men are in Pakistani jails.” And it’s not just the men. The boats they used – some 326 of them – were taken into the possession of Pakistani authorities. Of these, 186 boats have already been auctioned in Pakistani markets. On the other side of the border, a similar syndrome is in effect, though in lesser numbers. Official records list eight Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails, but the unofficial count is 55, said Veligi Masani, the leader of the Indian delegation. Eighty-seven Pakistani boats are also held by the Indian government.

Although the Indian Delegation was denied access to the detained fishermen – they did not have prior authorisation from the Sindh government -- these arrests are nothing new. Since 1987, both Pakistani and Indian authorities – the MSA in Pakistan, and the Coast Guard, Border Security Force, and the Indian Navy in India – have been arresting each other’s fishermen and confiscating their boats in the Arabian Sea. A total of 4,516 Indian fishers, with 729 boars, have been apprehended by Pakistan over the last 20 years, according to a 2008 study by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), a grassroots organisation that represents fishermen’s rights.

The rationale behind the arrests borders on ludicrous. The coast guards of the two rival nations officially consider the fishermen as spies or smugglers infringing on their sovereign waters. And so when fishermen unintentionally drift into “enemy” waters – due to engine failure or high tides, or because they are unable to find fish closer to home – they are picked up. But without any form of demarcation, it is difficult for fishermen to gauge exactly where the borders actually lie. What’s more, according to PFF, more often than not, fishermen are arrested even when they are within their country’s territorial boundaries. “Fishers usually do not cross borders, but security agencies violate international maritime laws and take fishers from the fishers’ own home waters,” said Gulab Shah, a fisher folk representative in Thatta District. “They bring more fishers for detention just to show their performance,” he added.

Fisher families maintain that illegal profit-making is also at work. On both sides of the border, agencies impound fishing equipment, fish and boats, often worth more than six or seven lakh, and then sell these in the market. In an ironic twist, the money gained from the sales is shared between Indian and Pakistan coast guard authorities.

In one of the more recent detentions, eight Pakistani fishers were captured in August 2008, and are now being held in Bhej Jail, Gujrat. Among those arrested was a 10-year-old boy. Days later, a 13-year-old boy, along with four other fishermen, were detained. On October 31, the Indian Coast Guard seized a Pakistani boat carrying seven crewmembers near Kajhar Creek, within Pakistani territorial limits.

On both sides of border, heart-wrenching stories abound. Many of those detained are the sole breadwinner in their family, yet it sometimes takes years for families to discover what happened to their husbands, brothers and sons. Janat, a resident of Rehri Goth, a coastal village of Karachi, did not know what happened to her husband, Achar, for four years, finally learning of his fate from a letter he sent from prison. Achar was arrested 15 years ago, and remains in an Indian prison today. The verdict, reached in 2006, was narcotics smuggling, Achar wrote in a letter to his wife. It took the Indian justice system 13 years to bring the case to court.

Achar’s mother, Mai Asi, 90, can only pray that she will be able to see Achar and his brother, who was also arrested 15 years ago, again. “One day Allah will send me back my children, she said with tears rolling down her wrinkled cheeks. “What can I do but pray for their safety and long life?” Mai Asi’s husband died of shock after he learnt of his two sons’ arrests, Janat, Achar’s wife, said.

On May 10 1999, Usman Sacho, Nawaz, Usman Ali and Zaman Khan, all of Karochan, Thatta District, went fishing and did not return. Five years later, in 2004, Usman Sacho’s family received a letter from Usman, telling them that the four men were alive and detained in Sabir Matti Jail in Ahmedabad, Gujrat under charges of smuggling. In his letter, Usman wrote, “We get very little to eat. Even our enemies should not have to stay in such a jail.”

A PFF representative, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that jail conditions were poor and justice slow or nonexistent for fishers. With no one to pursue or support their cases, the fisher folk are a low priority. And, the representative said, “if anyone tries to approach or help them, he is looked on suspiciously and considered a spy.”

Another representative of PFF admitted that working for the detained fishermen was an onerous task. “Disclosing news about Indian fishers arrested by Pakistani agencies is not a big deal,” he said. “The problem arises when the media publishes news of Pakistani fishers arrested by Indian agencies quoting PFF as a source.” The office’s phones start ringing non-stop with intelligence officers interrogating them over the phone, he said, adding that PFF was threatened to reveal their sources. “Our answer remains the same, we learnt it through the internet and their [the captured men’s] fellow fishers.”

According to PFF, Indian and Pakistani forces have killed18 Pakistani and four Indian fishermen, respectively, over the last 18 years. Yet, there are simple solutions that could put an end to this tragic and unnecessary waste of life. That disenfranchised fishermen should be killed or held for years in prison without charge is a humanitarian atrocity, and more must be done to protect the civil rights of fishing communities, both in India and in Pakistan.

At the very least, a mechanism through which information can be passed in a timely manner to effected families must be put in place. Better, the families should be provided with economic relief. Each country must also improve their management of fisheries within their Economic Exclusive Zone to reduce pressure on fishermen to cross the border in search of a better catch. A bilateral solution must be reached. Abdullah Khoso lives in Karachi

This article published in The Friday Times. Fri, 12/05/2008.