KARACHI: “People are saying that we are being released as a goodwill gesture from the Pakistani prime minister to the new premier in our country at the time of his visit to India on the occasion of the latter’s swearing in. I don’t understand politics. I am a plain fisherman.

“I just know that with my release today, I have passed one milestone but I’m still dreading more challenges ahead as after reaching my home in Gujarat I still have to face the owner of our boat, Sarita, which was confiscated along with our arrest. As it happens on both sides of the border, it will not be returned,” informed its captain Bejal Pancha at the District Prison Malir here on Sunday morning.

“The making of the boat cost the owner over Rs600,000. Other than my five children and wife, who I know is mad at me for being away from home for so long, too, I have worried myself sick about the loss of the boat also for all these seven months that I spent in prison here.

“I am thankful to your prison authorities for taking such good care of us but I am also angry at our Indian government for not sending confirmation to the authorities here about our being Indian nationals in order for them to deport us,” he said. “Due to this, two fishermen who were to be released with us today have been held back,” he added regretfully.

Pakistan on Sunday released 151 Indian prisoners, 59 of whom were released from the district prison Malir in Karachi while 92 were released from the Nara prison in Hyderabad.

‘I don’t understand politics. I am a plain fisherman’

One prisoner released from Karachi was a civilian while the rest were all fishermen caught at sea for having crossed over to Pakistan by mistake. A couple of prisoners, namely, Rangeela Pedo and Pampha Khima Jee, whose name was also included in the list of prisoners to be released will remain detained at Nara prison, Hyderabad, because their status as Indian nationals is yet to be confirmed by the Indian government.

Nanji Soma, another fisherman at the Malir jail, said he thoroughly enjoyed his nine-month stay there. “I am an illiterate fool good enough to catch fish only but my son will not be one. He is 10 years old now and goes to school. In my absence the fisher community back home contributed for my poor family to keep sending him to school. Now I will go back and work again and also pay back my friends. I may get caught again as there are not clear boundaries marked in the sea to keep us from drifting into your country but it will not happen to my son,” he smiled.

Rahesh Kana, meanwhile, said that he had been in prison here for seven and a half months and his first child, a little daughter his wife named Rina, was six months old. “She was born while I have been held captive here,” he said with tears in his eyes.

Dapu Teja said that he has learnt bead-work in jail. “I get Rs50 to 60 per every piece I make and I know how to make bracelets, anklets, necklaces and key chains with beads,” he informed.

Teja, who was on board the Marine Monsoon, which crossed over to Pakistani territory seven months ago said that there were seven people on the boat but only four were arrested by the Pakistan coastguards. “They let the three older fishermen go back as they will have been a burden here due to their age,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kamal Shah of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum appealed to the Indian government to also release the Pakistani fishermen locked up in Indian jails for over 15 years.

“Our government releases so many Indian fishermen while our people are languishing in their jails in miserable conditions,” he pointed out. “The goodwill gesture such as this deserves to be reciprocated,” he concluded.

Legal Aid, an NGO, had arranged for the fishermen’s journey onboard a luxury bus to Lahore from where they would be driven to the Wagah border crossing to cross over to their country at 12:00pm on Monday.

Gohar Ali Khan from Hyderabad adds: Nara Jail Hyderabad superintendent Nazeer Shah said that 92 of a total of 98 Indian fishermen detained in special prison Nara were released on Sunday.

The prisoners were garlanded by PFF’s activists Mohammad Mallah and Azad Mirwahi, who were present outside the prison to give them a send-off.

One fisherman Arwind, 75, died in Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro, on Friday after a protracted illness. The prisoners had been transferred to Nara from district prison Malir in Karachi on Jan 13 due to shortage of space in that prison.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2014