AHMEDABAD: Gujarat’s waters remain a flashpoint, with 144 fishermen and 1,173 boats from the state in Pakistani custody as of December 31, 2024, the state government revealed in the assembly.
The reply further detailed that, over the past two years, Pakistan has apprehended 22 more Gujarat fishermen and four boats.
In a sharp exchange in the Gujarat Assembly on Wednesday, Congress MLAs Shailesh Parmar and Amit Chavda pressed the Fisheries Minister on the fate of fishermen and boats held in Pakistan.
The government’s response laid bare the numbers—144 Gujarat fishermen and 1,173 boats remain in Pakistani custody as of December 31, 2024. Of these, 22 fishermen and four boats were seized in the last two years, with nine captured in 2023 and the number surging to 13 in 2024.
The government disclosed that 432 Gujarat fishermen were freed between February 1, 2023, and January 21, 2024, but no releases have taken place since.
Notably, not a single boat has been returned, signaling a concerning deadlock in repatriations and deepening the crisis for those still in Pakistani custody.
The tragic death of Babubhai Chudasama, a fisherman from Sokhda village in Una, Gujarat, while imprisoned in a Pakistani jail, recently sparked outrage on social media. Reports of his demise due to illness spread widely, accompanied by a viral letter detailing the incident.
According to the letter, Chudasama fell severely ill at 4:30 a.m. on January 23, 2025. Fellow inmates rushed him to the jail hospital, but as his condition worsened, he was transferred to a city hospital by ambulance—only to die on the way before being returned to the prison. The letter also claimed his body would be sent back to India as soon as possible.
According to his family members, Chudasama had been languishing in a Pakistani jail for four years, even after completing his sentence, as bureaucratic delays stalled his release.
His death marked the fourth such tragedy in the last two years, highlighting the grim conditions faced by Indian fishermen detained across the border.
Families of imprisoned fishermen allege that many have already served their sentences but remain behind bars due to delays in embassy verification.
They claim Pakistani authorities routinely capture Indian boats and fishermen, treating them as hostages and scattering them across different prisons.
Despite submitting fishermen’s details to the Indian government, families say the repatriation process remains sluggish due to the embassy's failure to verify detainees on time, leaving them stranded in foreign jails indefinitely.