Ahmedabad

A delegation of Gujarat will leave for Pakistan on Sunday. The delegation includes 2 officers of fisheries department, Government of Gujarat, 3 members of All Gujarat Fishermen Association and 3 boat mechanics. As there’s no direct flight to Karachi, they will travel to Karachi via Dubai.

The delegation will check seaworthiness of 57 Indian fishing boats parked at Karachi.These boats were captured by Pakistan Marine Security Agency(PMSA) for alleged violation of international maritime boundary in Arabian Sea. For last few years, Pakistan had stopped returning fishing boats captured by PMSA. Some boats were even auctioned in Karachi.Following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last year, Pakistan agreed to release some boats. Among 57 boats that are to be released and returned to India some are fit to sail while some are repairable. Some others are in poor condition but they can be tied with other boats on return journey. Mechanics will repair the boats for journey. Repairing cost will be financed by officials of Fisheries department, Government of Gujarat. Later a date will be fixed and all boats will be taken to international boundary in Arabian sea where PMSA will hand over them to Indian Coast Guard. Indian fishermen will take the boats to Gujarat coast from that point.

Foa last many days, the members of Gujarat delegation were camping in Delhi and waiting for visa. Their visa has been okayed after Indian Foreign Secretary Jaishankar’s Pakistan visit.

PTI adds

Vadodara

The Pakistan High Commission in Delhi today granted visa to a delegation of eight persons from Gujarat to visit the neighbouring country for completion of formalities to bring back 57 seized boats anchored at a port in Karachi.

The eight-member delegation comprises of leaders of fishermen community and an official of the Gujarat fisheries department.

Earlier, Member of Parliament Parimal Nathwani had written to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif urging him to expedite visa processing to the delegation.

Assistant Director, Gujarat Fisheries department, Dr P C Malli said that Pakistan High Commission office has informed the fisheries department that it has issued visa to the members of the delegation for one month and it is only for Karachi city.

He said the delegation will leave for Pakistan on March 8.

In the letter to Sharif, the MP had said it was imperative to bring these seized fishing boats back on humanitarian grounds as it served as a means of livelihood to hundreds of fishermen and their families.

“These 8-member team consisting leaders of fishermen community and an official of the Gujarat fisheries department have been camping in Delhi for last one week and awaiting visa,” he had said.

Documents related to the seized boats have already been sent to the authorities concerned in Pakistan, Malli said.

“The delegation will try to complete all the formalities for bringing the boats back. The visit was needed for verifying and checking the sea worthiness of the seized boats as 53 of them require minor repairs and remaining major repairs, before they could be physically taken over by us,” he said.

“Either Pakistan can release the 114 fishermen who are lodged in jails there to ferry the boats back or grant visa to an equal number of fishermen from Gujarat who can go to Karachi for repair works and bring them to India,” he said.

The decision to release the boats came after an announcement by Sharif on the eve of his visit to Delhi in May 2014 for attending the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.