NEW DELHI – Coast Guards of India and Pakistan on Monday held talks,addressing issues pertaining to boundary violations by fishermen from bothsides and enhancing cooperation in the area of maritime search and rescue,and combating pollution at sea.
“A lot of focus of the meeting was on (violation of maritime boundary by)fishermen,” Indian Coast Guard Director General Rajendra Singh said.
“Focus of the talks was also on cooperation in the area of search andrescue operations and cooperation in the field of (maritime) pollution,” headded.
The four-member delegation of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA)is being led by its Director General Rear Admiral Zaka Ur Rehman.
Rehman was accompanied by Director Operations of the PMSA, an official eachfrom Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Two members — a defence attache and a political secretary — at thePakistan High Commission here also participated in the talks.
The high-level meeting was conducted under the provisions of the Memorandumof Understanding (MoU) signed between the two agencies in 2005.
A meeting between the two maritime security agencies was scheduled forOctober last year, but it was called off amid tension between India andPakistan following the Kulbhushan Jadhav episode.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national and former navy officer, has beensentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on the charges of allegedspying. India has denied the charges and approached the International Courtof Justice against the sentence.
“This annual meeting is a significant link between the two maritimeagencies for addressing issues pertaining to maritime boundary violationsby fishermen and enhancing cooperation in the domain of maritime search andrescue and marine environment pollution.
“The two service heads from Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan MSA also have ahotline link between them for regular exchange of information onnon-military maritime issues as per the MoU between the two governments,” astatement by the Indian Coast Guard said.
The Pakistani delegation will be in India till May 30.