AHMEDABAD: A total of 184 fishermen from Gujarat, who were released from a prison in Pakistan last Thursday, arrived at the Vadodara Railway station in Gujarat early on Monday.
The fishermen were caught by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) nearly four years ago from the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) near Gujarat coast in the Arabian Sea, claiming they had crossed the notional border and entered Pakistani waters, the government said in a release.
According to the release, the fishermen were apprehended by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) four years ago from the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Arabian Sea close to Gujarat coast, for violating the fictitious border and entering Pakistani waters.
Raghavji Patel, state agriculture minister, and other local members of the ruling BJP met the fishermen at the Vadodara railway station. Indian fishermen, who had been detained for allegedly crossing the international maritime border were freed by Pakistani officials on May 13. Last week, Pakistan freed 198 Indian fishermen in total. 184 of them are from Gujarat, three each from Andhra Pradesh, Diu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
According to a statement from the Gujarat government, “Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel and Union Minister Parsottam Rupala were in constant contact with the central government for securing the release of Gujarati fishermen.”
Of 184 fisherman, 152 are from Gir Somnath region, 22 from Devbhumi Dwarka, five from Porbandar, and one each from Junagadh, Jamnagar, Kutch, Valsad, and Navsari, local officials sent the fishermen in four buses from Vadodara to their final destinations. The Gujarat administration said in the Legislative Assembly in March that as of December 2022, up to 560 Gujarati fishermen were incarcerated in Pakistan.
