Released fishermen blame ordeal on rich contractors

Manmeet Singh Gill
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, April 16

After their release from Pakistan jails, the second batch of 100 fishermen reached the city on Monday evening.

All of them are natives of Gujarat and were nabbed by Pakistan coast guards for entering their side of the ocean.

Most of the fishermen were caught for the first time, but Ballah said it was his third turn.

“First time, I was caught around 20 years ago. Next time, it was in 2013 and this time, I was nabbed in November 2017,” he said.

Having spent over four years in Pakistan jails, Ballah said, “I will start catching fish as soon I go back. We do not have any other mean of earning livelihood. I will have to work as a fisherman again.”

But Jagish (22) has different views. He said, “I will never go for fishing. Even if I have to pull a rickshaw, I will do that. I got scared when I was caught. I had feared that I would never get to see my family again.”

Like Ballah and Jagdish, all others in their batch were hired on contract by rich contractors.

They said all fishermen worked for rich contractors who often asked them to go to various parts of the sea, which were considered to be rich in finding fish.

Rupesh, another fisherman, said he, along with five others in the same boat, was arrested on November 15, 2015. “Later, we came to know that a total of 23 fishermen were arrested. We had learnt the craft of making necklaces from glass beads in the jail. We were given the money earned as profit from their sale,” he said.

Many were seen wearing the glass beaded necklaces, which they had crafted as a memory of days spent in the jail. Many others have also kept a portion of the money they earned in Pakistani currency as the token.

“While we exchanged most of the Pakistani currency while entering India, everybody has kept something for their memory,” said Rupesh.

The third batch of 100 fishermen is scheduled to arrive on April 22. The fishermen are being taken to Gujarat by a team of officials, which came to city on Monday evening.