Gujarat fisherman died in a Pakistan jail last week after reportedly suffering a heart attack while waiting for his release and repatriation from the neighbouring country for more than three years, according to activists. He died on September 5, they added.
The fisherman, whose name has not been shared yet, hailed from Gir Somnath district of Gujarat. He was apprehended by Pakistan early in 2021 for allegedly violating territorial waters by crossing over to the Pakistan side of the disputed international maritime boundary line (IMBL) at the Arabian sea off Gujarat coast. He was tried in Pakistan and awarded a jail term.
Despite having served his time in jail, and India subsequently confirming that he was an Indian citizen, the fisherman’s wait to return home only ended in his death at Malir Jail in Pakistan on Thursday. Announcing the death, Jatin Desai, Mumbai-based journalist and activist, and Velji Masani, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Fishermen Association (ABFA), said in a joint release on Monday: “An Indian fisherman died in a Pakistan jail on September 5, 2024. The most shocking part is his sentence was over in July 2021. His nationality was also confirmed long ago. Had he been released earlier, he might have been alive today.”
No government official has commented on the issue yet. Desai, who works for the welfare of fishermen, and Masani said the Gujarat fisherman should have been repatriated to India long ago. “The section (V) of the bilateral Agreement on Consular Access, 2008, categorically says, ‘Both Governments agree to release and repatriate persons within one month of confirmation of their national status and completion of sentences’. It means he should have been sent back to India long ago,” they said in the statement.