Pakistan arrests 20 Indian fishermen

KARACHI: Pakistan has arrested 20 Indian fishermen and seized their boats for allegedly violating territorial waters off the Arabian Sea coast, over a week after it apprehended 88 Indian fishermen.

The Indian fishermen were arrested by the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) while they were fishing in Pakistani waters off the Arabian Sea, a spokesman for Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) told reporters yesterday.

The four boats of the fishermen were also seized.

"The fishermen have been handed over to the Docks police for further legal process," he said.

The arrests came just over a week after the PMSA arrested 88 Indian fishermen and seized their 16 boats from Arabian Sea off Jakhau port of Gujarat.

India and Pakistan regularly arrest fishermen who venture into unmarked territorial waters of the two countries due to the poorly marked maritime boundary. Some of them spend years behind bars before being repatriated.

Nearly 400 Indian fishermen are said to be languishing in Pakistani jails.

In the past, the two nations have released many fishermen as goodwill gestures.