NEW DELHI, Nov 8: The Gujarat Police have registered an FIR against 10 personnel of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on charges of murder and attempt to murder after they allegedly opened fire at an Indian fishing boat in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat coast killing a crew member and injuring another, officials said.
The FIR was registered on Sunday night at Navi Bandar police station in Porbandar district, under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed), and relevant provisions of the Arms Act, the officials said.
As per the FIR, ten unidentified PMSA personnel, five each onboard two boats, were accused of opening fire at the Indian fishing boat ‘Jalpari’ at around 4 pm on Saturday killing one Sridhar Chamre (32), a fisherman from Palghar district in Maharashtra. Another fisherman, named Dilip Solanki (34), who hailed from Diu, was injured in the firing. He is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Okha coastal town of Devbhumi Dwarka district in Gujarat. There were seven crew members on the fishing boat.
“We have taken serious note of this incident. We are going to take up this issue diplomatically with the Pakistan side,” a government source said in New Delhi. Manish Lodhari, the leader of Gujarat fishermen’s association, said the PMSA also allegedly apprehended six fishermen on board another fishing boat, Shree Padmani, and also seized the boat. Sources said both Shree Padmani and Jal Pari were part of the same group of fishing trawlers that were operating off Gujarat’s Jakhau coast.
Last year in February, there was a spurt in the number of fishermen getting caught by Pakistan in the high seas. The Gujarat government had then told the state legislature that PMSA had seized 11 fishing boats and 63 crew (fishermen) in four different incidents between February 13 and 18 last year. Twenty-three of these fishermen were caught by Pakistan on a single day — February 13, 2020.
(Manas Dasgupta)