Daily Times

As is traditional in the run-up to Independence Day celebrations, Pakistan has once more released a number of Indian prisoners. This year the figure stands at 30; the majority of which are fisherman who inadvertently strayed into this country’s territorial waters.

And while this is welcome news, both sides must refrain from framing such moves within the narrative of humanitarian goodwill gestures. Especially considering that among those released is 76-year-old Gajanand Sharma who disappeared from his village in Jaipur back in 1982; only to turn up on the Pakistani side of the border. He was sentenced to two months’ in prison. Yet returning him to ‘freedom’ some 36 years later is neither a goodwill gesture nor a humanitarian one. Rather, it is a tale of immense and needless tragedy and of a life gone to waste. It also underscores a deeply flawed criminal justice system that is severely lacking in both oversight and accountability.

This is yet another pressing issue for the incoming set-up to deal with. A good place to start when it comes to rebuilding bilateral ties with New Delhi is on the question of prisoner release; where there is no suggestion of malevolent intent. After all, of the 470 Indian prisoners in Pakistani custody — 418 are fishermen. This much was admitted by Islamabad in a report submitted to the Supreme Court back in July. Thereby once more highlighting the urgency of devising a system to demarcate the maritime boundary in the Arabian Sea. For it is not as if fishermen from either side deliberately trespass territorial waters. The more mundane explanation is that they do not have access to boats with the required technology to inform of exact locations. Thus they surely deserve to be afforded the benefit of the doubt.

Indeed, Imran Khan, who by his own admission was rather put out at how certain sections of the media across the eastern border chose to portray him as a ‘Bollywood villain’, should consider releasing all the remaining fishermen at the earliest.

For what better goodwill gesture could there by than to demonstrate that Naya Pakistan is not a place where the poor of neighbouring countries are treated as commodities to point-score. This, we believe, is what leading by example truly means.  *

Published in Daily Times, August 14^th 2018.