Pakistani fishermen bear the brunt of strained ties with India

Amir Hamza’s five children have been waiting to hear from their ailing father for more than two months. (AN photo)

Amir Hamza’s five children are far from being the only fishing family to fall victim to the strained relationship between the South Asian nuclear neighbors. (AN phot)

KARACHI: Amir Hamza’s five children have been waiting to hear from their ailing father for more than two months. 
The last time they saw their father he bought them groceries before boarding a fishing vessel at the Ibrahim Haideri Jetty. The boat was then seized by Indian Coast Guards.
That happened on Nov. 30 last year, but the children were not to hear the news for nearly a month, and were effectively parentless as their mother died seven years ago. 
“The fishermen in another boat saw the incident,” Asma, 16, the eldest of Hamza’s children, told Arab News. Speaking in her single-room residence at the impoverished neighborhood, she sobbed, as she explained: “My father is in his mid-50s and he has been suffering from cancer and tuberculosis. We are extremely worried.” 
They are far from being the only fishing family to fall victim to the strained relationship between the South Asian nuclear neighbors. Two streets to the east, 56-year-old Aamir Hussain and his wife also face an agonizing wait for news. Their 16-year-old son Rizwan went on a fishing expedition on Dec. 20, 2017, before being detained by Indian Coast Guards.
“We are desperate to see Rizwan again,” said Hussain. “The Indian authorities should at least allow him a phone call. His mother has hardly slept since her son went away. She cries much of the time. Yesterday, she wept for hours.”
Similarly Gulbahar, a 65-year-old widow, was unable to hold back her tears as she spoke of her son, Mohammed Ismail. He was arrested on Oct. 3, 2016, while fishing near Kajar Creek, on the invisible boundary between Indian and Pakistan.
At least 15 people from this neighborhood are in Indian jails, according to Kamal Shah, spokesperson of Pakistan FisherFolk Forum. Seven were arrested this Wednesday alone, he added.
Gulbahar and her daughter-in-law do not know the whereabouts of their sole breadwinner, they only know that Indians have arrested him. “The women in the town want to go to the Indian High Commission to seek the release of their loved ones,” Ismail’s wife told Arab News.
According to Shah, there are more than 100 Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails, some have been there since 1999.
Shah added that Indian and Pakistani fishermen have been facing this dilemma since 1965.
“There is no visible border in the sea,” he said. “How does anyone expect these fishermen to know they have left their territorial waters?”
He pointed out that Pakistan recently released more than 200 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture, and said officials should have demanded reciprocity from New Delhi.
“On Jan. 1, 2018, officials told us that there were 94 Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails,” said Jatin Desai, a Mumbai-based Indian activist, in a telephone interview with Arab News. “The list submitted by Pakistan reflected that there were 253 Indian fishermen in Pakistani jails, as of Jan. 1, 2018.”
The stories from the Indian side of the border have a familiar ring to them, however.
“The families of arrested fishermen go through extremely difficult times,” Desai said. 
“I spent 11 months in jail in Gujarat with 48 other fishermen,” said Mohammed Rafiq, who was arrested in September 2011. “It was quite distressing, but we were never tortured except once when the Indian Navy was arresting us.”
“Whatever the solution,” said Shah, spokesperson of Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum, “the victims of the strained relations want an end to their miseries.”