11 Pakistani fishermen freed from Indian jails reach Karachi after four to nine years; over 70 still held

Eleven Pakistani fishermen released from Indian jails reached Karachi on Friday 30 October and were reunited with their families at the Edhi Centre near Merewether Tower at 11:30am, Dawn reported. They had been held for between four and nine years after their boats strayed into Indian waters. Indian authorities handed them over at the Wagah border, and the Edhi Foundation drove them from Lahore to Karachi by ambulance.

Who came home

Kamal Hassan Bengali found out that his mother had died only when a letter reached him in jail three years later. "The day our boat was captured by the Indian coast guard was the day my mother passed away," he told Dawn. On Friday he met his eight-year-old niece for the first time.

Khamiso Siddiq Mallah, now 60, says he will never fish again and will look for work as a labourer. Basheer will keep fishing, but only off Balochistan, far from the Indian border; he said he lost about 70 pounds in jail. Abdul Rehman and Noor Nabi spoke of poor, sometimes spoiled food and long loneliness. Mehboob Ali Mullah, a father of three, still had to travel on to his village in Badin.

More than 70 still in Indian jails

More than 70 Pakistani fishermen are still in Indian jails, according to Fatima Majeed Motani, chairperson of the Fishermen's Cooperative Society. Families of the missing came to the Edhi Centre too. Saleem Sabro of Thatta has been looking for his brother Ahmed Ali for five years: a fisherman freed last year told him Ahmed Ali had been held in Ahmedabad, and he finished his sentence two years ago but has not come home. Sabro says he has written to Pakistan's embassy in Delhi, the Foreign Office and the Ansar Burney Trust.

Why fishermen end up in jail

The sea border between Sindh and Gujarat around Sir Creek is not marked on the water, and small boats from Karachi, Thatta and Badin that follow the fish can cross it without knowing. Both countries arrest fishermen from the other side, and releases usually come in small groups through Wagah after sentences are served and nationality is confirmed.

If a relative is missing

Families searching for a fisherman held abroad can raise the case with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistan's mission in New Delhi, and with Karachi fishermen's bodies such as the Fishermen's Cooperative Society. Make sure the person's CNIC details are current with NADRA, since nationality checks rely on them: our NADRA fee calculator shows what a renewal or replacement costs.