19 fishermen released from Indian captivity reached Karachi Fish Harbour from Lahore on Friday. They were received by Fishermen Cooperative Society Chairman Abdul Berr and flower garlands, gifts of Sindhi culture, along with cash, was also presented to them.
The fishermen could not control their emotions. Karachi Fish Harbour resounded with slogans of ‘Long live Pakistan’. A fisherman named Ali Nawaz was quarantined in Lahore when he tested Corona positive.
The Narendra Modi government was incensed when FCS chief Abdul Berr warned of strong protests if Pak fishermen in Indian custody not released soon. After that the federal government demanded immediate release of the Pakistani fishermen from Indian custody.
On the joyous occasion, FCS Directors Asif Iqbal Bhatti and Abdul Rauf also welcomed the released fishermen. As soon as the fishermen met their loved ones and relatives, they went highly emotional.
The fishermen narrated their ordeal and said that not a day went by when the Indian jail authorities did not torture them. They hated us for being Pakistanis and Muslims. The lives of our fellow fishermen in jails there have been made miserable. The federal government should immediately rescue the 95 fishermen in Indian jails, rather from Indian hell. Speaking to local and foreign media on the occasion, Chairman Fishermen’s Operative Society Abdul Berr said that Pakistan released 500 Indian fishermen in a year in a spirit of goodwill and sent them away with gifts.
Instead, India sent us the tortured bodies of 3 fishermen, and 115 fishermen. Only 20 fishermen were released. Pakistan gave consular access to terrorist Kulbhushan Yadav instead of hanging him as a gesture of goodwill, and his case is pending in the International Court of Justice. But the Indian pilot who came to attack Pakistan was handed over alive to the Indian government. Now our fishermen ask us why the goodwill is only from Pakistan.
Why not from India? Why doesn’t our foreign ministry talk of release of 115 of its fishermen while releasing 500 Indian fishermen. He said the responsibility lies with the federal government and the foreign ministry. These questions of the fishermen should not only be answered but also their foreign policy needs to be reconsidered.
The federal government should take the issue of fishermen to the International Court of Justice to expose the ugly face of the Indian Modi government.
