Pakistan hands over 20 Indian fishermen to India at Wagah border
Lahore, Nov 15: Pakistan on Monday handed over 20 Indian fishermen, who completed their four-year prison terms for allegedly fishing in Pakistani waters, to India at the Wagah border, according to officials.
The batch of 20 Indian fishermen, who were released from the District Prison and Correctional Facility, Malir in Sindh province on Sunday, arrived here on Monday.
The Edhi Foundation received them in Lahore and provided them with food. They were taken to the Wagah border where they got through immigration process and certain COVID-19 related tests. They crossed into their homeland in the evening, an Edhi Foundation official told PTI.
The Edhi Trust Foundation, a non-profit social welfare organisation, made arrangements to transport the fishermen to the Wagah border from where they were handed over to the Indian authorities.
The Indian nationals were handed over to the Border Security Force by the Pakistan Rangers, according to officials.
Most of the fishermen were imprisoned after crossing over to the Pakistani waters four to five years ago.
These 20 Indian fishermen were arrested by the Pakistan Maritime Security Force (PMSF) and handed over to the dock police for allegedly fishing illegally in Pakistani waters.
One Arjun Babu said that he had been growing his hair from the time of his arrest five years ago.
It was for the fulfilment of my wish to be released soon. It was a wish. My hair grew so long and I believe, due to my wish, all 20 are being released today, he told reporters after his release.
He said that he would get a haircut as soon as he reaches his home but not immediately just to be safe.
I am glad to be leaving for home now but was sad about leaving behind several other Indian fishermen in jail for also having crossed over to Pakistan unknowingly like him. Please release them also so that they can be with their families, another fisherman Ravendra said.
An officer said that 588 more Indian nationals, the majority of them fishermen, are still languishing in Landhi jail.
The Pakistan government had also released 20 Indian fishermen early last year and another batch of 100 Indian fishermen in April 2019 as a goodwill gesture.
Fishermen from Pakistan and India usually end up in jails after they are arrested for fishing illegally in each other's territorial waters.
A senior official of the NGO Pakistan Fishermen Forum said that due to the absence of a clear demarcation line in the coastal area of the Arabian Sea between the two countries, these fishermen who do not possess the modern-day navigation equipment mistakenly crossed the red lines and ended up in jails.
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BJP won't cross 50-mark in Bengal polls, says TMC in response to Shah's 'two-thirds majority' claim
Kolkata (PTI): The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of peddling falsehoods and making baseless claims about securing a two-thirds majority in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Senior TMC leader and state education minister Bratya Basu told reporters that Shah's remarks were based on hollow assertions and claimed that the BJP would not even cross the 50-seat mark in the polls.
"Shah will keep coming and going like a tourist. Such visits will serve no purpose," Basu said on the sidelines of a programme.
"The BJP will not even cross the 50-mark in the assembly polls and suffer a humiliating defeat," Basu claimed.
Addressing a press conference here, Shah claimed that the BJP would form the next government in the state with a "two-thirds majority in 2026".
"We will not only identify infiltrators, but we'll also drive them out. Bengal will have a new BJP government after April 15, 2026, as people have made up their minds," he said.
Shah also took a dig at the Trinamool Congress government on the issue of women's safety.
"It has been officially stated that women should not step out of their homes after 7 pm. What era are we living in? Are we living in the Mughal period?," he said.
"Mamata ji, this is a free India. Ensuring that women can step out safely whenever they choose is a constitutional right. Your government has failed to provide this basic security," he added.
Criticising Shah over his comments on women's safety in the state, senior TMC leader and minister Sashi Panja urged the Union home minister to visit Bengal during the festive season, like Durga Puja and Christmas, when thousands of women move about freely and participate in festivities.
"In case a stray incident happens, our administration takes prompt action to bring the culprits to book. Instead, the rapists of Bilkis Bano are garlanded by your party activists. Your party shields Kuldeep Sengar and Brij Bhusan, who were accused of committing atrocities. Amitji should not lecture on women's security," she said.
Panja accused Shah and his party at the Centre of coming in the way of the passage of the Aparajita Bill, which would have ensured exemplary punishment to rapists after conviction.
On Shah's claims about the industrial decline of Bengal, Panja said since 2011, investment of Rs 13.8 lakh-crore came to the state.
"Bengal occupies the second berth in the MSME sector as per the figures available with the Centre, and he is peddling falsehood about the industrial growth of Bengal," she said.
TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar also dismissed Shah's assertion that the BJP does not engage in temple-based polarising politics.
"Everyone knows the BJP campaigned on temple-masjid politics in both the 2019 and 2024 elections. This brand of politics will again be rejected by the people of Bengal," Majumdar said.
