News / Pakistan

Pakistan detains 60 Indian fishermen in single day

Friday, 27 January 2017 3:25 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 27 January 2017 5:01 PM ]

Indian fishermen, who were held captive for crossing territorial waters, wave for a selfie by a policeman, after their release, at Cantonment railway station in Karachi, Pakistan, January 5, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Despite recently releasing a number of Indian fishermen as a 'goodwill' gesture, Pakistan has taken into custody 60 other Indian fishermen, saying they strayed into its territorial waters.

Police official Lateef Babar said on Friday that Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency made the arrests and confiscated 10 wooden boats belonging to the fishermen the previous day.

Babar said the 60 men would appear in court on Saturday and later be sent to prison.

Indian fishermen enter in a train at the railway station in Karachi, Pakistan, January 5, 2017, after their release from prison. (Photo by AFP)

Late December 2016, Pakistan released 220 Indian fishermen, who were accused of entering Pakistani waters in an area of the Arabian Sea where the maritime border is unclear.

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Pakistan releases more than 200 Indian fishermen

On January 5, it further freed 219 other Indian fishermen, some of whom had been in jail for more than a year, as a gesture of “goodwill.”

Dozens of Indian and Pakistani fishermen are arrested each year amid demarcation disputes in the Arabian Sea.

They frequently languish in jail even after serving their sentences, as stained diplomatic ties between Islamabad and New Delhi hamper bureaucratic requirements for their release.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea states that the fishermen who cross territorial waters can be warned and fined but not detained.

Pakistan-India relations further deteriorated last September after a deadly attack on an army base in the Indian-controlled Kashmir. India blamed the incident on Pakistan-based militant groups. Both neighbor countries claim the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in full, but rule parts of it.

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