India, Pakistan civil groups urge release of jailed fisherfolk

In the coastal hamlet of Vanakvara in Diu, off the southern coast of Gujarat, Jagrutiben Solanki has been toiling for the past five years in fields belonging to others to sustain her family. The 36-year-old widow has been supporting her ailing father-in-law and two daughters all by herself ever since her brother-in-law Hiran Solanki got picked up by Pakistani maritime agencies near the disputed maritime boundary of the two countries.

Hiren is among numerous fisherfolk from both India and Pakistan who went on routine fishing activity before getting detained and imprisoned by respective authorities, eventually landing in alien prisons.

A total of 198 Indian fisherfolk are languishing in Pakistani jails, while 53 Pakistani fisherfolk are in prisons in India.


Notably, many have already completed their prison sentences but are still to reach home. The sentences of 10 Indian fisher-people ended on 16 July 2021, 115 on 16 March 2022, 21 on 17 November 2022, 10 on 31 January 2023, and 22 on 18 July 2024. In all these cases, nationality verification was completed long ago.

On the eve of Independence Day celebrations in both countries, a coalition of prominent cross-border civil society organisations has issued an urgent joint appeal to the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan calling for the immediate and honourable release and repatriation of the jailed fisher-people. This joint campaign is led by the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF-India), and the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), along with the families of the detained individuals.

Stating that the “continued detention of these fisher-people, despite the completion of their sentences and confirmation of nationality, is neither legally nor morally defensible”, the letter highlighted “most are poor working people who inadvertently crossed an invisible maritime boundary while pursuing their livelihoods.”

“Their prolonged imprisonment has imposed unbearable hardship on their families, many of whom have been left without income or support for years,” per the letter.

It further stressed that the continuing incarceration of fisherfolk is inconsistent with the Agreement on Consular Access between India and Pakistan (2008). “Section 5 of the Agreement clearly provides that: ‘Both Governments agree to release and repatriate persons within one month of confirmation of their national status and completion of sentences’,” it said, pointing out that Section 7 of the same agreement states that “in special cases, which call for or require compassionate and humanitarian considerations, each side may exercise its discretion, subject to its laws and regulations, to allow early release and repatriation of persons.”

Meanwhile, 60-year-old Jeeviben Solanki is inconsolable remembering her son. “We have been running from pillar to post to get our children released,” she said. “He is not a criminal; all he wanted to do was catch fish to run his family.”

“We don’t want anything from anyone, just get our children home,” she said. Her son Vishal has been in Pakistani jail for the past six years, as his daughter grows up back home without her father by her side.