8 Indian boats, over 50 fishermen caught by Pakistan off Gujarat coast

Porbandar: A day after the apprehending of a Pakistani boat with 9 people aboard in the Indian waters close to Gujarat coast by the Indian coastguard, the Pakistan Marine Security Agency (PMSA) in a seemingly retaliatory measure reportedly caught more than 8 Indian boats with over 50 fishermen near International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Arabian sea off the Jakhau coast of Gujarat today.

The number of caught boats might go further up, the National Fish Workers Forum Secretary Manish Lodhari said adding that initially 3 boats with 18 fishermen were caught and later five more boats were caught by the Pak Marines.

He said that the number of boats caught by Pak Marines might go up as there were reports that their operation against Indian boats close to the IMBL was still on. All the boats that have been caught had ventured in to sea from either Okha or Mangrol.

Notably, in last around seven months (since August) Pak Marines have so far nabbed over 60 Indian boats with more than 370 Indian fishermen. Since January this year, over 35 boats and more than 200 fishermen have been nabbed.

On March 4, 13 Indian boats with over 70 fishermen and on March 5, 3 such boats with over 15 fishermen were caught.

On January 26 amid the heightened coastal security on the occasion of the 68 the republic day also PMSA had caputured around a dozen Indian boats with around 60 fishermen from the same area.
On December 28 the PMSA had captured 13 Indian boats with 65 fishermen from the same area. Prior to that on November 19 also the Pak Marines had abducted 6 Indian boats from the same area with around 36 fishermen on board. In September and August last year also PMSA had captured 6 and 1 boats respectively with 36 and 6 fishermen.

Interestingly, today’s capturing of Indian boats has taken place after yesterday’s apprehension of a Pakistani boat with 9 fishermen aboard all of them have been handed over to the Jakhau Marine police.

Indian Coast Guard Ship C-408, a front line interceptor boat of Indian Coast Guard North West Region based at Jakhau apprehended Pakistani fishing boat “Karachi Pakistan” North West of Jakhau Port, in Indian waters at about 1509 hrs yesterday. The Pakistani fishing boat left base port Shah Bunder in Pakistan a day before.

DeshGujarat