KARACHI: Seven Pakistani fishermen reunited with their families in the southern port city of Karachi on Monday after languishing for years in Indian prisons, a Pakistani charity said.

The charity organization, Edhi Foundation, was handed over these fishermen by Pakistani authorities last Friday to facilitate their return to Karachi, according to Muhammad Ameen, an official at the Edhi Foundation.

The charity covered transportation costs for the fishermen from Lahore, where they had arrived from India, and gave each one of them Rs10,000 ($36) for household expenses upon arrival in Karachi.

Indian and Pakistani fishermen are routinely detained by both maritime agencies on charges of illegally entering each other's territorial waters. The nuclear-armed nations’ borders are not clearly defined in the Arabian Sea and many fishing boats lack the technology to steer clear of any intrusion. 

“Whether it’s Indian or Pakistani fishermen, they are all poor,” said 26-year-old Allah Bachayo, who spent nearly four years away from his family after his boat drifted into Indian waters due to a malfunction in 2020.

“If both sides can come together to release Pakistani fishermen in India and Indian fishermen here, it would be a great kindness.”

Another fisherman, Ghulam Mustafa Shah, 19, was reunited with his mother, Shehrbano Bibi, and two younger siblings after having spent nearly three years in an Indian prison.

“I begged for alms to feed my children,” Bibi told Arab News at the Edhi Foundation office in Karachi, adding that Shah was her eldest son and the family’s main breadwinner, whose imprisonment forced her to ask others for support.

“I am very happy. It is a greater occasion than Eid for me,” she said, warmly embracing her son.

Shah, who had accidentally crossed into the Indian waters along with nine other fishermen in Jan. 2022, described his prison time as "painful," recalling that his requests to speak with his family were denied multiple times.

“I missed my mother a lot,” he said. “I would cry the whole day, but no one would listen to me. I banged my head [against the walls], but no one accepted my request.”

Ameen, the Edhi Foundation official, said that another 79 Pakistani fishermen were incarcerated in India, urging authorities to make efforts for their release too.