Indian Fisherman Shot Dead by Pakistan

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Indian Fisherman Shot Dead by Pakistan- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: International Relations- India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Recently, an Indian fisherman was killed and another injured in firing by the Pakistan Marine Security Agency (PMSA) near international waters in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Gujarat.

The Indian side has condemned and strongly protested the killing of the Maharashtra fisherman as being “unprovoked”.
Action Taken: Local Police in India have booked 10 personnel on board two PMSA patrolling boats for murder, attempt to murder and under the Arms Act.
- India has vowed to take on the case diplomatically with the Pakistan side.

An official statement from Pakistan said the vessel, named ‘Jalpari’, was only fired upon after it failed to heed repeated warnings made by the PMSA.
Pakistan also accepted that leaving aside the fisherman who was killed and the other one who was injured, six others from the boat were taken into custody for questioning.

February 2021: Pakistani coast guards arrested 17 Indian fishermen and confiscated their boats for allegedly straying into the country’s territorial waters.
April 2020: Pakistani Marines opened firing on two boats near the IMBL in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat in which one person was hurt.
2019: the PMSA had sunk an Indian boat with seven fishers onboard. Six of them were rescued but one person was reported missing.
2015: an Indian fisherman was killed in firing by the PMSA near the IMBL.

Unclear demarcation of international maritime borders: Such incidents happen when fishermen stray into the maritime borders of the neighbouring country while trawling the seas for fish.
Lack of technical know-how: lack of access to GPS or accurate, up-to-date maps and inability to read them by fishermen, results in a misunderstanding about the maritime borders.
Desperation of fishermen: If domestic waters prove unproductive, then the temptation to not return empty-handed often pushes fishermen to go just a little bit further, landing them in foreign waters.

Lack of Credible Judicial Recourse: There is no straightforward, ‘by the book’ resolution in this case for the families of the dead and others.
- Lack of clarity about jurisdiction and mis-trust between Indian and Pakistan results in unacceptance of the orders of the court of each other’s country.
Role of International Court: For an international court to step in, both parties have to agree on its jurisdiction which seems farfetched in India-Pakistan’s case.