Pakistan fires at Indian fishing boat, one dead; MEA takes serious note

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 7

India has taken a serious note of the “unprovoked firing incident” in which a Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) vessel fired at an Indian fishing boat, killing one fisherman and injuring another.

“We are going to take up this issue diplomatically with Pakistan,” said sources here. While Pakistan said six Indian fishermen were taken into custody, there was no official word from the Indian side. The PMSA fired at the Indian fishing boat near the international maritime boundary line in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Gujarat on Saturday evening, the Coast Guard and Gujarat Police said in separate statements.

Of UN convention

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It’s sad. It’s a violation of UN Convention. Firing on a fishing boat is not acceptable.

Jatin Desai, Indo-Pak peace activist

The deceased was identified as Shridhar Chamare, 32, from Palghar district of Maharashtra. He was on ‘Jalpari’, which had sailed from Okha on October 25 with seven crew members, five from Gujarat and two from Maharashtra,” said Dwarka SP Sunil Joshi. Chamre’s body was brought to the Okha port on Sunday and an FIR registered with the police station with jurisdiction over any incident that occurs beyond 12 nautical miles off the Gujarat coast.

The violence in the maritime domain comes at a time when Pakistan has been at odds with India on several issues. Pakistan’s NSA will not attend a conference on Afghanistan this week, Indian trucks carrying aid to Afghanistan have been denied access and overflight permission to the Srinagar-Sharjah flight has been withdrawn. This is the first time in several years that a fisherman has been killed for alleged illegal fishing due to India and Pakistan’s inability to officially determine their maritime boundary, leaving small boats susceptible to inadvertently crossing territorial waters.

Pakistan claimed its ships first attempted to interdict the boat, but it did not respond or change course even after repeated warnings. After warning shots failed to force the boat to shut off its engines, the PMSA opened fired on the boat. One person on board was killed and six occupants were taken into custody for questioning, it said.

Violence had last erupted in the waters dividing Gujarat and Sindh in 2015 when the Indian security forces sank a Pakistani boat which appeared to be carrying suspicious cargo. The price for the absence of a maritime boundary and the promise of a good catch on waters away from the coast is paid by marginal fishermen from both countries. As many as 632 fishermen are currently in interminable custody of which 558 are from India and 74 are Pakistanis.

Maritime boundary

• Absence of officially agreed upon maritime boundary and the lure of a good catch away from coast are proving costly for fishermen of both nations
• As many as 632 fishermen are currently in interminable custody, of which 558 are from India and 74 are Pakistanis
• The Coast Guard had recently seized a Pak fishing boat and arrested 14 fishermen