Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), an NGO working for promoting friendly ties between India and Pakistan on Thursday appealed to governments of both the countries to send body of a Gujarat fishermen who had died in a Karachi jail early this month to his home. Jeeva Bhagwan Bamaniya, an Indian fisherman, was to be released and repatriated to India on 5thJanuary along with 219 Indian fishermen but unfortunately he died in Karachi prison on 4thJanuary. He was from Gir Somnath district of Saurashtra region of Gujarat. His body is kept in the Edhi Foundation’s morgue in Karachi. The family of Jeeva is waiting for his body to return, Jatin Desai, general secretary of PIPFPD said in a release. Desai said that whenever any fishermen be Indian or Pakistani dies in the other country’s prison, it usually takes minimum one month for body to return to his village. In case of Vaaga Chauhan, it took four months for his body to return to his village in Gujarat. Such kind of apathy, lethargy and insensitivity cannot be accepted in a civilized society, he further said. The NGO further said that Jeeva was to be released on 5th January and that his nationality had already been confirmed. In such a situation sending body to India should not take time. Blaming other country for the delay will not help in resolving the issue. The inhuman procedure of returning body needs to be amended. Both the countries should see that whenever some prisoner dies in other country, his / her body should be sent back on the next available flight, the release further stated. PIPFPD added that establishing identity of fishermen takes a long time as they are poor and semi-literate with not much political influence. We sincerely thank Pakistan government for the release of 438 Indian fishermen in the last week of December and first week of January. We reiterate our demand that India must reciprocate by releasing Pakistani fishermen, Desai further added in the statement.