Following the death of a Maharashtra fisherman in a firing incident by the Pakistani side off the Gujarat coast, India strongly responded on Monday by summoning a senior diplomat of the Pakistan High Commission. The center also lodged a strong protest over the killing.
“A senior diplomat from the High Commission of Pakistan was summoned by MEA today and a strong protest was lodged on the incident of unprovoked firing at Indian fishermen by Pakistan side,” said a source.
The government of India condemned this deplorable action by the Pakistani agency of firing at an Indian fishing boat and causing loss of life which is in contravention to all established international practices and bilateral understandings, the sources said.
“It was reiterated that the authorities in Pakistan consider the issue of fishermen as a humanitarian and livelihood matter. The Government of Pakistan was also called upon to conduct an inquiry into the incident and to instruct its forces to refrain from such acts of unprovoked firing,” the source said.
“A fisherman from Thane in Maharashtra, who was on a fishing boat ‘Jalpari,’ was killed after the PMSA personnel opened fire on him and other crew members on Saturday evening,” Devbhumi Dwarka Superintendent of Police Sunil Joshi had earlier said.
There were seven crew members on the boat and one of them also sustained a minor injury in the firing incident, he said.
The body of fisherman Sridhar Ramesh Chamre (32) was brought to Okha port on Sunday and an FIR was being registered by the Porbandar Navi Bandar police, which has jurisdiction across Gujarat over any incident that occurs beyond 12 nautical miles in the Arabian sea, he added.
“Chamre was on the fishing boat ‘Jalpari’, which had sailed from Okha on October 25 with seven crew members, five of whom were from Gujarat and two from Maharashtra,” Joshi said.
