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Amritsar (Punjab) [India]May 13 (ANI): The Pakistani government on Friday night released 198 Indian fishermen caught at the Attari-Wagah border for crossing the international border at sea.
Fishermen who crossed maritime international borders in the Arabian Sea were charged with violating the passport laws of the countries involved and were punished with about six months in prison.
Indian fishermen released by the Pakistani government said they crossed the border while fishing at sea because they did not know the border was in the sea.
“I was held in a Pakistani jail for 5 years and 12 of us were caught crossing the border fishing in two boats. There were no buoys, buoys or markings on the water. It was difficult to tell that the border was in the sea. I am happy to be back in my country now ,” said Biku, one of the fishermen released by the Pakistani government.
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He added that 5-6 Indian fishermen were being held in Pakistani jails and urged the government to help them.
Indian and Pakistani fishermen regularly cross international maritime boundaries in the Arabian Sea. They were captured by the respective agencies of both countries.
This issue arises due to a dispute over Sir Creek between India and Pakistan. India wanted to divide the estuary according to the Thalweg principle, but Pakistan was not ready to do so, which led to a dispute between the two sides. According to the Thalweg doctrine, if a body of water passes between two countries, it must be divided in such a way that the two countries should receive equal parts of the water body. This split is affecting the main international maritime border between Kutch Rann and Pakistan’s Sindh province, which in part affects the exclusive economic zones of both countries.
Pakistani authorities arrested them as they crossed the maritime border and confiscated their boats. The fishermen are demanding that the seized boat be returned to them.
“We crossed Pakistan by sea, where there is no border. We were arrested in 2018. We ask you to help those who are still in Pakistani prisons. They took our boat, but they did not return it,” Ajgar said, another a fisherman.
A solution to the above problems could be for both countries to provide fishermen with communication and navigation equipment, making it imperative for them to know the boundary line.
To minimize this problem, both countries should raise awareness, train fishermen, and provide communication and navigation tools to fishermen on a large scale so they don’t cross the line.
“I was fishing near the border when Pakistani boats came and took us. Many of us are still in prisons in Pakistan, please help them. We also want to ask the government to return our boats,” from Pakistan Fisherman Vijay said. Gujarat. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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