MP writes to Modi about Gujarat fisherman who died in Pak jail

Vadodara, Oct 10: Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up with Pakistani authorities the issue of reported death of an Indian fisherman in a jail there and to send back the body to his native village in Gujarat.

The fisherman, a native of Malkhet village in Umargam taluka of Valsad district, died at a prison hospital in Karachi on October 2 following an illness, according to another fisherman languishing in the same jail who informed his wife on phone about the inmate's demise.

The deceased was reportedly one of the seven fishermen on a boat which was seized by the Pakistani Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) in Arabian Sea near Jakhau port in Kutch district on December 20 last year, on charges of violation of international maritime boundary limit.

Nathwani told PTI today over phone that he has written a letter to the Prime Minister to ask the Indian High Commissioner's office in Pakistan to take up with the authority concerned the issue of the fisherman's death.

He also asked him to ensure that the body is sent back at the earliest to his native village so that his family can perform his last rites.

A senior official of the state Fisheries Department said though they have not received any official communication from Pakistan authorities about the demise of the fisherman, the Gujarat Fishermen Association (GFA) and Porbandar Boats Association (PBA) have written to the department about it.

PTI