Pak SC seeks details of detained Indian fishermen
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COMMENTS 
A three-member Supreme Court Bench in Pakistan has asked the interior and foreign affairs ministries, as well as the Sindh government, to submit a concise statement by August 26 on the detention of Indian fishermen in Pakistani jails
There are a total of 582 Indian fishermen languishing in four jails in Sindh -- Malir district jail in Karachi, Nara jail in Hyderabad, and the Badin and Naushero Feroze district jails. The imprisoned fishermen are still waiting to be deported back home as prisoner exchange agreements between Islamabad and New Delhi came to a halt after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Pakistan’s apex court has asked the interior and foreign affairs ministries as well as the Sindh government to point out the law under which it had detained the Indian fishermen for so long. The Bench, comprising Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, was hearing a batch of petitions filed by the Pakistani Fisher Folk Forum, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, five detainees and four undertrial prisoners seeking relief.
The petitioners’ council Iqbal Haider informed the court that the Indian Supreme Court, on March 10, had also ordered its government to immediately release Pakistani prisoners languishing in Indian jails. Haider said there were 582 Indian fishermen being held in Pakistani jails, waiting to be deported home.
He added that some Indian fishermen had been languishing in prison for over three years despite having completed a one-year jail term given to them for violating the Foreigners Act by illegally entering Pakistani waters. Sindh’s home department had put them in jail under a detention order without lawful authority; this was a violation of Articles 9 and 10 of the Pakistan Constitution, Haider said.
The three-judge Bench in Pakistan has told the concerned authorities to submit a concise statement by August 26 on the detention of Indian fishermen, and directed the attorney general to depute his officer to assist the court at the next date of hearing. The apex court also asked the authorities to disclose the facts and provisions of law under which the fishermen were being detained.
India and Pakistan arrest dozens of fishermen every year -- most of them from Kutch, Gujarat and Diu -- on charges of violating the maritime boundary.
Source: The Indian Express, August 13, 2010
http://www.dailytimes.com, August 2010