Pakistan apprehends another 48 fishermen; 88 held in two days

The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) has apprehended another 48 Indian fishermen and seized their nine boats from Arabian Sea off Jakhau port of Gujarat, hours after it held 40 fishermen from India from the same spot, National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF) said today.

With this, the total number of Indian fishermen apprehended by PMSA in the last 48 hours has gone up to 88. While the NFF had yesterday confirmed that PMSA had held 40 Indian fishermen late Thursday night, today it said that the Pakistani agency apprehended another 48 hours later.

"The PMSA has apprehended 88 Indian fishermen and 16 of our boats. Yesterday, we had got to know that it had caught 40 Indian fishermen and seven boats and today we are able to confirm that another 48 fishermen and nine of their boats have been captured," NFF secretary Manish Lodhari told PTI.

Preliminary reports have revealed that all of them were caught near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and have been taken to Karachi Port by the Pakistani agency, Lodhari said.

Since there are no physical markings in the sea, fishermen are dependent on the GPS system installed on their boats to find out their exact location in the sea and proximity with IMBL.

"However, GPS is not fitted in all the boats. Moreover, only the latest GPS devices show the IMBL on the GPS screen, while older GPS devices do not have that facility. As a result, it becomes difficult for fishermen to determine their exact location," he added.

Lodhari said that they have informed the state authorities as well as the Coast Guard about action taken by the Pakistani agency.