22 Indian fishermen set free
Indian fishermen queue to depart a railway station in Karachi on November 9, 2023, after their release by Pakistani authorities. PHOTO: AFP
The authorities on Friday released 22 Indian fishermen and handed them over to Indian authorities at the Wagah Border in Lahore.
The fishermen, released from the Landhi Jail, were transported to Lahore by bus. Three of the released fishermen are Muslims while rest are Hindus.
The authorities stated that the Indian fishermen were detained by Pakistani authorities had arrested the Indian fishermen for illegally fishing in Pakistani waters about three years back. They have been released on humanitarian grounds, the authorities said.
The Edhi Foundation has borne all travel expenses of the released Indian fishermen from Karachi to Lahore and also gave gifts to them while leaving.
In response to the Pakistani government's goodwill gesture, the Pakistani fishing community has called on the Indian government to release Pakistani fishermen who have been in Indian jails for years.
"Our families are deeply worried. They have been waiting for their loved ones for years," said Mehran Ali Shah, Chairman of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF).
Shah praised the Pakistani government's consistent humanitarian approach of releasing Indian fishermen.
"This is not the first time the Pakistani government has shown such a gesture. We hope the Modi government will respond in the same way and release our innocent fishermen at the earliest."
The PFF has been advocating for the rights of detained fishermen for over three decades, urging both governments to address the issue in accordance with the international law.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
an hour ago
- Business Recorder
India disrupting Indus Water flows: Musadik Malik
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Musadik Malik accused India of using dams to disrupt the flow of the Indus River system reported Bloomberg on Tuesday. 'India is manipulating the flow of rivers that run into Pakistan by holding and releasing, holding and then flooding,' he was quoted as saying during an interview with Bloomberg. The minister added how India lacks the storage capacity to completely stop the water, noting that when the water was needed for crop sowing, 'it was not available' over the past month. He also said their neighbour was doing this 'to disturb crop patterns and the food security of Pakistan'. Following the April 22 attack, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered officials to expedite planning and execution of projects on the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus rivers, three bodies of water in the Indus system that are designated primarily for Pakistan's use, reported Reuters. About 80% of Pakistani farms depend on the Indus system, as do nearly all hydropower projects serving the country of some 250 million. Any efforts by Delhi to build dams, canals or other infrastructure that would withhold or divert significant amount of flow from the Indus system to India 'would take years to realise,' said water security expert David Michel of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. There will be no compromise on water, says Bilawal Meanwhile, in the interview, Malik added, 'Because they don't have storage dams, they have not been able to materially affect us.' 'If they start to build storage dams, it would be deemed as an act of war,' he said.
Business Recorder
an hour ago
- Business Recorder
Rs10mn yearly income: govt proposes to reduce surcharge by 1% to halt ‘brain drain'
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in his Budget 2025-26 speech proposed 1% reduction in the surcharge on those individuals whose income exceed Rs10 million a year, in an effort to halt 'brain drain' among skilled and unskilled workers. The current surcharge is 10% which the government announced to reduce to 9%, recognising the harm to the economy of workers leaving Pakistan. The Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BE&OE) and the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) registered 727,381 workers for overseas employment in 2024, according to The Economic Survey 2024-25 as unveiled by Aurangzeb on Monday. According to BE&OE, more than 62 percent (452,562) of Pakistani workers moved to Saudi Arabia for employment, followed by Oman (11 percent), to earn a living. UAE employed 64,130 Pakistani workers (9 percent) while Qatar offered jobs to 40,818 individuals (6 percent). Bahrain and Malaysia hosted 25,198 workers (3 percent) and 5,790 workers (1 percent), respectively. In 2024, the highest number of workers who moved away from Pakistan for work originated from Punjab (404,345), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (187,103), Sindh (60,424), and Tribal areas (29,937). Brain drain is a growing concern for developing countries like Pakistan, as talent from less developed countries is drawn to developed nations due to higher salaries, access to cutting-edge technology, better living standards and more stable political environments.
Express Tribune
an hour ago
- Express Tribune
India pushes back 'foreigners' into Bangladesh, sparking human rights concerns
Police officers stand next to men they believe to be undocumented Bangladeshi nationals after they were detained during raids in Ahmedabad, India, April 26, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS Listen to article India has started to push people it considers illegal immigrants into neighbouring Bangladesh, but human rights activists say authorities are arbitrarily throwing people out of the country. Since May, the northeastern Indian state of Assam has "pushed back" 303 people into Bangladesh out of 30,000 declared as foreigners by various tribunals over the years, a top official said this week. Such people in Assam are typically long-term residents with families and land in the state, which is home to tens of thousands of families tracing their roots to Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Activists say many of them and their families are often wrongly classified as foreigners in mainly Hindu India and are too poor to challenge tribunal judgements in higher courts. Some activists, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, said only Muslims had been targeted in the expulsion drive. An Assam government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Assam, which has a 260 km (160 mile) border with Bangladesh, started sending back people last month who had been declared as foreigners by its Foreigners Tribunals. Such a move is politically popular in Assam, where Bengali language speakers with possible roots in Bangladesh compete for jobs and resources with local Assamese speakers. "There is pressure from the Supreme Court to act on the expulsion of foreigners," Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the state assembly on Monday. "We have pushed back 303 people. These pushbacks will be intensified. We have to be more active and proactive to save the state." He was referring to the Supreme Court asking Assam in February why it had not moved on deporting, opens new tab declared foreigners. Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser, Touhid Hossain, did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. Last week, he told reporters that people were being sent to his country from India and that the government was in touch with New Delhi over it. Aman Wadud, an Assam-based lawyer who routinely fights citizenship cases and is now a member of the main opposition Congress party, said the government was "arbitrarily throwing people out of the country". "There is a lot of panic on the ground - more than ever before," he said. Some brought back Sarma said no genuine Indian citizens will be expelled. But he added that up to four of the people deported were brought back to India because appeals challenging their non-Indian status were being heard in court. One of them was Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old former government school teacher who was declared a foreigner by a tribunal in 2016. He spent two years in an Assam detention centre and was released on bail in August 2020. He said police picked him up on May 23 from his home and took him to a detention centre, from where he and 31 others were rounded up by Indian border guards and loaded into a van, blindfolded and hands tied. "Then, 14 of us were put onto another truck. We were taken to a spot along the border and pushed into Bangladesh," he said. "It was terrifying. I've never experienced anything like it. It was late at night. There was a straight road, and we all started walking along it." Islam said residents of a Bangladeshi village then called the Border Guard Bangladesh, who then pushed the group of 14 into the "no man's land between the two countries". "All day we stood there in the open field under the harsh sun," he said. Later, the group was taken to a Bangladesh guards camp while Islam's wife told police in Assam that as his case was still pending in court, he should be brought back. "After a few days, I was suddenly handed back to Indian police," he said. "That's how I made my way back home. I have no idea what happened to the others who were with me, or where they are." It is not only Assam that is acting against people deemed to be living illegally in the country. Police in the western city of Ahmedabad said they have identified more than 250 people "confirmed to be Bangladeshi immigrants living illegally here". "The process to deport them is in progress," said senior police officer Ajit Rajian.
