Arrested Indian fishermen in Pakistan lockup. File photo. Getty images
Something I wrote in anguish yesterday, published in The Citizen, The Wire and Aman Ki Asha… Not only are fishermen punished harshly for crossing a border they cannot see, once detained they are treated like prisoners of war by the other country.
The India-Pakistan Fisherman’s Story: Caught, Jailed, Dies, Body Wrapped in Red Tape
Imagine you are a fisherman. Born into poverty. Born in a small coastal village in India. Or Pakistan. (Hardly a matter of choice). You lead a tough life, following the profession of your father and grandfather. You are barely literate. You spend your life eking out a bare existence for yourself and your family, chasing the depleting shoals of fish that the wind and tide drive further out to sea.
Filed under: Human rights, Pakistan-India | Tagged: death in prison, fishermen, Fishermen arrested, Fishermen released, India, Martime border, Pakistan | 1 Comment »
Email from friend Jaspal Singh on June 25, 2017 that I meant to post earlier about a situation that feels all too familiar to Pakistanis. The long-running democratic political process in India – interrupted only by Indira Gandhi’s three-year long Emergency in 1975 is one of the reasons the country has done so much better than neighbouring Pakistan. Until the current scenario where, fuelled by signals from the top, mob lynchings and vigilante violence in the name of religion are rising. Some argue that the Emergency sowed those seeds. Read on. 
“It’s just a game” doesn’t apply to any cricket match between India and Pakistan. But in recent years, fans have been stepping beyond national positions to support the other team even while rooting for their own, and to point out that yes, it is just a game. And that it’s better to fight on a sports ground than the battlefield. 
Journeys to democracy 