198 fishermen freed this month but over 500 Indians still stuck in Pakistan jails: RTI data

In response to a series of RTI applications filed by Venkatesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) over the last two years, the MEA said 455 fisherfolk – all of them arrested since 2018 – and 51 “Indian prisoners (Civil)” or non-fisherfolk continue to be in Pakistan. Of the 51 “Indian prisoners (Civil)”, six are women.

The data reveals that 45 fisherfolk were arrested in 2018; 138 in 2019; 130 in 2020; 221 in 2021; and 120 in 2022. With the release of 198 fisherfolk and the death of one who died a week before his impending release, 455 fisherfolk are still behind bars. All the fisherfolk are lodged at Malir District Prison and Correctional Facility in Landhi town of Karachi.

According to Pakistan media reports, the prison was built to house a maximum of 1,800 prisoners. However, as of December 2022, with 7,000 inmates, the facility was stretched beyond capacity.

All 455 fisherfolk have been detained under Pakistan’s Fisheries Act, 1987, which prescribes a maximum jail term of not more than two months each for two specific offences — fishing by using dynamite and fishing using poison or lime or some other noxious material.

The NCHR Punjab team oversees the departure of the Freed Foreign Fishermen as they return to their homes via Wagah Border.

NCHR hopes for the return of Pakistani Fishermen as well.@RabiyaJaveri @las_pakistan @BBhuttoZardari pic.twitter.com/DrgImdlANJ

— National Commission for Human Rights (@nchrofficial) May 15, 2023

The RTI data says that of the 51 “Indian prisoners (Civil)” who are in Pakistan’s jails as of January 1, nine face charges under Pakistan’s Official Secrets Act (OSA), 1923.

Of the nine, six, who have been convicted under OSA, are serving their terms while two others are undertrials. One of the nine prisoners convicted under OSA completed his five-year sentence in December 2021, however, as of January 1, he continues to remain in Central Jail, Lahore.

The RTI data also reveals that despite an agreement signed by India and Pakistan in 2008, consular access to prisoners was often delayed. According to the 2008 Consular Access Agreement, “each Government shall provide consular access within three months to nationals of one country under arrest, detention or imprisonment in the other country”.

For instance, all 138 Indian fisherfolk booked in 2019 were granted consular access only in 2021 (between May 24 and 28 that year). Of the 130 fisherfolk booked in 2020, 129 got such access between May 24 and 28, 2021. However, the 221 fisherfolk booked in 2021 were granted consular access the same year (between May 16 and 28, 2021) and similarly, the 120 fisherfolk booked in 2022 were granted consular access in November that year.

Data provided by the MEA to CHRI shows that of the 51 “Indian prisoners (Civil)” in Pakistan jail, 10 are “mentally unsound” and are admitted at Lahore’s Punjab Institute of Mental Health.

Of the six women in the MEA list of 51 prisoners, three are currently admitted at the Punjab Institute of Mental Health. Two women are at Lahore’s Halfway Home Township, which, as per its website, was established for patients discharged from mental hospitals but “who are yet to be assimilated in society”.