NEW DELHI: A four-member Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA)delegation, headed by Rear Admiral Zakaur Rehman, arrived here in New Delhito hold annual maritime dialogue with India’s Coast Guard Director GeneralRajender Singh.
The annual maritime dialogue between the two coastal security agenciescould not take place last year after India decided to put a hold on thetalks due to the diplomatic unease caused by death sentence awarded toIndian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav who was arrested in Pakistan oncharges of terrorism and spying for India’s intelligence agency.
During the four-hour long meeting, also attended by officials from DefenceMinistry and External Affairs Ministry as well, Indian side reiterated theneed for instituting Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for immediaterelease and repatriation of the fishermen who cross the internationalmaritime boundary line inadvertently.
In 2017, PMSA apprehended around 400 Indian fishermen and seized 65 fishingboats. As the issue needs to be approached in a humanitarian context, “wewanted to release the arrested fishermen directly instead of taking themfor police custody. Involvement of police authorities take a long time andrequire the intervention of Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” an Indianofficial said.
Moreover, expeditious exchange of the information about the arrest offishermen by both the sides was also raised in the meeting, according tothe Coast Guard official. The Indian officials said that both the sidesalso agreed to conduct search and rescue communications exercise betweenthe Rescue Coordination Centres to validate the SOPs for efficient conductof rescue of distressed vessels or crew at sea.
Besides, recognising the need for collaboration for preservation andprotection of marine environment, Pakistan and India agreed to exploreopportunities for cooperation in the field of oil spill response at sea inline with the MoU signed recently by India with the South Asian CooperativeEnvironment Programme (SACEP).
This annual meeting is a significant link between the two maritime agenciesfor addressing issues pertaining to maritime boundary violations byfishermen and enhancing cooperation in the domain of maritime search andrescue and marine environment pollution.
On October 3, 2005, the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and the IndianCoast Guards signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that came intoeffect on March 16, 2006, which envisaged cooperation between the twomaritime security agencies through exchange of information on ExclusiveEconomic Zone violations, apprehended vessels, marine pollution, naturaldisasters/calamities, combating smuggling, illicit trafficking in narcoticdrugs and piracy, and coordination in search and rescue and return seapassage.