Pakistan, which repatriated the mortal remains of a Gujarat fisherman who died in a Karachi jail, has decided to release and repatriate 80 Indian fishermen so that they can reach their homes in time for Diwali, Jatin Desai, former general secretary of the India-Pakistan People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, said Wednesday.
“The good news is Pakistan will release & repatriate 80 Indian fishermen on 10 November. Both the country should release & repatriate all the fishermen from their custody,” Desai, the Mumbai-based peace activist, posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Our counterparts in Pakistan have learnt through reliable sources that the Pakistan government has decided to release 80 Indian fishermen from Landi jail in Karachi on November 9 and formally repatriate them to India via Wagah border on November 10,” Desai, the journalist-activist, said. “If the Indian authorities make proper travel arrangements for them, these fishermen can reach their homes in Gujarat in time for Diwali celebrations on November 12.”
The development comes 10 days after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan after four years in exile. Sharif, as prime minister of Pakistan, had attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in in May 2014. As a goodwill gesture before his visit to India then, the Sharif government had released 151 Indian fishermen from Pakistani jail. His younger brother Shehbaz Sharif was the prime minister before he advised dissolution of Pakistan’s National Assembly in August. Pakistan released and repatriated 398 India fishermen in May and June this year and a batch of 100 fishermen were scheduled to be released in July. However, for reasons that remain unknown till date, the third batch has not been released yet.
“We are ascertaining details as to who will be the 80 fishermen who will be released on November 9,” Desai further said, adding that more than 260 Indian fishermen, most of them from Gujarat, were presently in the custody of Pakistan and that more than 60 Pakistani fishermen were lodged in Indian jails after being apprehended for allegedly violating Indian territorial waters.
On Tuesday Pakistan handed over the mortal remains of Bhupatbhai Vala, a Gujarati fisherman, to Indian authorities at the Wagah border. Vala, a native of Dudana village in Gir Somnath district, was apprehended by Pakistan on October 12, 2021, for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line, the notional line at the Arabian Sea dividing territorial waters of India and Pakistan, and was lodged in Mali jail in Karachi. He died in the jail on October 9 following complaints of breathlessness. A team of officers of the Gujarat fisheries department has taken possession of Vala’s body and it is likely to be handed over to his family on Thursday morning.