Guj; 509 fishermen, 1,141 boats from state in Pak custody, minister tells Assembly

A total of 509 fishermen and 1,141 boats from Gujarat are in the custody of Pakistan, state Fisheries minister Jitubhai Chaudhari told the Assembly on Monday.

Of these, 244 fishermen and 1,094 boats have been in the custody of the neighbouring country for over a year, he told the House.

He was responding to a written query raised by Congress MLA Bhagwan Barad during Question Hour.

In order to get them back, the Gujarat government had written to the Union home ministry 18 times during the last two years and provided details for verification of the nationality of the captured fishermen, said Chaudhari.

Though the Centre managed to get 376 captured fishermen released during the last two years, Pakistan did not return any of the seized boats during this period, Chaudhari informed the Assembly.