20 fishermen held

KARACHI: Pakistan has  arrested 20 Indian fisherman for violating the territorial waters of the  country, its maritime security agency said Sunday. The Indian fishermen  were arrested and brought to the Southern city of Karachi early Sunday  morning. Their boats were also seized.“We are preparing documents to  produce all of them in court tomorrow,” police official Fida Hussain  told AFP. Both Indian and Pakistani fishermen are frequently detained on  the charge, as the two countries’ borders are not clearly defined in  the Arabian Sea and many fishing boats lack the technology needed to be  certain of their precise location. Many are sent to jail before being  handed over to the authorities in their homeland. “The court is likely  to send them to jail for at least a year over the violation,” Hussain  said. The fishermen often languish in jail even after serving their  term, as poor diplomatic ties between the two arch-rivals mean  fulfilling official requirements can take a long time. Shakir Hussain, a  senior prison official at Karachi’s Landhi district jail, said more  than 400 Indian fishermen were currently detained there.