A forum championing issues concerning fishermen from South Asia working along the Gulf coast, has reiterated its demand for release of 56 Indian fishermen detained by Iran for straying into its territorial waters last month.
Among those held by the Iranian coastguards are 29 Indian fishermen, who ventured out for duties from Wakrah. They have been in detention since October 8.
In a statement to the newspapers in GCC states, South Asian Fishermen Fraternity (SAFF) headquartered in Kannyakumari city of India’s Tamil Nadu state, said it is high time joint diplomatic initiatives made by GCC states and India to secure the release of the fishermen, now in detention in Ikish island on the southern coast of Iran.
While asking for issuing common ID cards for all fishermen fishing in the region’s seas, SAFF said issuance of ID cards could make situation somewhat easy for region’s governments to handle such issues as border crossing by fishermen. In the first place to make such issues less complicated in future, such cards need to be recognised by the GCC states and their neighbours, said SAFF regional co-ordinator and rights and legal activist from Doha Nizar Kochery.
The forum wondered why fishermen groups from India and other South Asian countries, which have no history of any criminal activities, are held in detention at intervals by the coastguards of the GCC states and Iran in the name of violating territorial waters of respective countries.
SAFF stated that it is extremely difficult to read the water boundaries, especially while fishing in rough waters as those in the Arabian Sea. Their representatives said even with the aid of standard GPS equipment that some of them use in their boats they found it difficult to recognise the territorial water limits.
Speaking to this newspaper from India, SAFF representatives said the issuance of common ID cards as demanded by the forum could ensure more transparency in the activities of fishermen in the region. The nature of the job that they perform makes fishermen falling easy victims to such violations as border crossing that occurs not quite deliberately, they argued.
Along with the Indian fishermen from Qatar, 27 of their compatriots from UAE are also currently in detention in Iran on the same grounds.
Welcoming the demand for the issuance of common ID cards for region’s fishermen, newly formed expatriate forum Qatar Indian Tamizhar Munnetra Sangham (Qitams) hoped the SAFF suggestion would help in solving such issues as border violating involving fishermen engaged in duties in the Arabian sea.
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