THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI M. J. AKBAR)
(a) to (c) As per available information, the number of Indian fishermen and fishing boats apprehended and released, and the civilian prisoners released since 2014 is given below:
Pakistan Sri Lanka
2014 2015 2016 2017 2014 2015 2016 2017
Fishermen Apprehended/ Imprisoned 435 370 316 503 787 454 290 440
Released* 185
335 410 508 1045 375 333 420
Fishing boats# Apprehended/ Imprisoned 74 60 68 83 164 71 51 80
Released NIL 57 NIL NIL 159 87 - 42
Indian civilian prisoners
Released*
06
04
02
07
-
-
86
72
(*This number also includes prisoners and fishermen arrested in previous years and not released earlier.)
(#Pakistan has not acknowledged the number of fishing boats in its custody.)
Most of the fishermen belong to the state of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. However, separate state wise details are not available immediately.
As for Prisoners of War, as per available information there are 74 Missing Defence Personnel (MDP) that are believed to be in Pakistan’s custody but whose presence has not been acknowledged so far by Pakistan. The Government has raised the matter with the Government of Pakistan on numerous occasions, including at high levels. A Committee of kin of the MDP visited jails in Pakistan in 2007 but could not find evidence of their presence. However, Government continues to raise this matter with Government of Pakistan.
(d) Government has been consistently taking up with the Government of Pakistan, including through diplomatic channels the matter of early release and repatriation of all Indian prisoners, including fishermen along with their boats. As a result of Government’s efforts, a total of 508 Indian fishermen and 07 civilian prisoners were released by Pakistan in the year 2017. This includes 145 fishermen who were released and repatriated on 29 December 2017. Pakistan has also confirmed that 146 fishermen would be released on 8 January 2018.
In case of Sri Lanka, the fishermen issues have been raised at the highest level including by the Prime Minister with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister during the latter’s visit to India in November 2017. External Affairs Minister had also raised the matter with the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister during her visit to Colombo earlier this year. This also figured in EAM’s discussion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka during the latter’s visit to New Delhi in September 2017. Following the 2+2 initiative in November 2016 when the Foreign and Fisheries Ministers of the two countries met in New Delhi, a bilateral Joint Working Group (JWG) mechanism was institutionalized to address the fishermen issues. It was also agreed that Ministers for Fisheries of the two countries meet every six months to review the progress. So far three rounds of the JWG meeting have been held. The 3rd meeting of the JWG and the 2nd Ministerial meeting held on 13 October and 14 October 2017 respectively in New Delhi took stock of the measures taken by both sides to address the fishermen issues pending a permanent solution. As a result of Government’s efforts 25 fishermen were released by Sri Lanka on 28 and 29 December 2017.
Government continues to pursue the case of remaining prisoners, including fishermen, for their early release and return to India.
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