The fight to release detained fishermen from India and Pakistan
Hundreds of fishermen straying into disputed waters in Sir Creek are arrested each year. Activists are collaborating across the India–Pakistan border to bring them home.
Arjun Daware, a fisherman who returned from Pakistan after three-and-half years breaks down with tears of joy after seeing his 4-year-old daughter and family members, at Aamgaon, in Palghar district. In 2023, almost 500 Indian fishermen held in Pakistani prisons for years on charges of illegal fishing along the disputed International Maritime Boundary Line were released. While the release itself made headlines, less discussed was how these fishermen gained their freedom.
The reporting for this piece was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center.
“I’ll never forget the shock when that Pakistani boat came and took us in,” Dharmesh, a 28-year-old from Gujarat’s Somnath district, recalled. He was on a fishing boat in what he thought were Indian waters, in September 2020. Pakistani security officers “got on board and started shouting and swearing, tying our hands. They kept asking why we were in their waters. We were feeling lost, confused, didn’t even know where we were.”
After that, “they kept us locked away for five days before taking us to court in the city.” That would be Dharmesh’s last view of the outside world for three years.
When he worked as a cook on the boat, Dharmesh said, he earned INR 12,000 per month – roughly USD 157 at the time. Now he was unemployed, but he vowed never to go back to sea again.
