Pakistan lodges protest against India over fishermen killing

Islamabad, Apr 11 (UNI) Pakistan today protested the killings of its fishermen by the Indian Coast Guard and Islamabad has asked New Delhi to respect its territorial integrity and to avoid recurrence of such ''provocative acts'' in the future.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told a weekly press meet here yesterday that an official of the Indian High Commission was called to the foreign office to discuss the issue.

The incident occurred on March 18 when Indian Coast Guards chased a Pakistani fishing boat ''Al-Kalsoom'' with seven crewmen and opened fire killing them on the spot.

''We have expressed our protest to the Indian government over this provocative act in which a life has been lost,'' Ms Aslam said.

It took a while for the information to trickle down and reach the foreign office, she said adding that the date for demarche was fixed some time back.

''We will have to respect each other's territorial integrity and also territorial waters and EEZ,'' she said in order to avoid the recurrence of such incidents.

UNI XC PA RK1352