Need of the Hour: A Special Tribunal for Fishermen

Fishermen who cross territorial waters for more catch are not hardcore criminals. They need not be unnecessarily subjected to prolonged confinement and harassment.

A joint statement by Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit to release the fishermen incarcerated in both the countries speaks of sensitivity and sensibility of two leaders. This no doubt helped in releasing hundreds of innocent fishermen imprisoned in India and Pakistan.

This may, prima facie, appear a trivial issue in a larger framework of political, economic and strategic matters between the countries. But a fisherman is not trivial for his family. He is a human soul, often a sole bread-earner. When arrested in other country, he leaves behind a whole family in distress. For days, the family members are unaware of his whereabouts and live in utter grief till his return.

By the time released after a prolonged custody and miserable imprisonment in an alien environ, both he and his boat/equipment are broken. Often fishermen die in jails due to poor food, sanitation and health services. In the month of February 2015, three Indian fishermen died in a Pakistan jail due to non-availability of timely medical treatment.

I, as one who hails from a coastal belt of Jamnagar, have tried to understand their plight. I have raised the cause of fishermen in various forums inside and outside parliament. My only anxiety is that the innocent fishermen who cross territorial waters for more catch are not hardcore criminals. They need not be unnecessarily subjected to prolonged confinement and harassment. There has to be a mechanism, mutually worked out between the marine-bordering countries, to deal with the incidents of trespassing of territorial waters by the fishermen.

A high powered tribunal of two retired high court/supreme court judges of the countries concerned should be formed. The cases of fishermen caught should be brought before the panel of judges which would interrogate, question and investigate intentions, motives and credentials of fishermen and give the verdict in matter of few days (and not months or years); if not hours.

Such tribunal could be set up in line with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). It is an intergovernmental organization created by the mandate of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which has the power to settle disputes between party states.

Fisheries contribute significantly to our economy. India has around 8000 kilometers of marine coastline, more than 3,500 fishing villages, and 1,914 traditional fish landing centers. There are around nine lakh full time and eleven lakh part-time fishermen in India. The value of export of fisheries stands at Rs 30K crores.

The total production forms 0.83 % of the GDP. The contribution to the GDP must not go down due to inadvertent trespassing by fishermen. To support the life of poor fishermen and the economy as a whole, the release of fishermen should also be as regular as the arrests. Why should it wait till an occasional goodwill gesture or a ‘joint statement’ occurs?