By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter
A Doha-based India legal and rights activist will visit Tehran next week in a bid to secure the release of 19 Indian fishermen, who are in the custody of Iranian coastguards for the last seven months.
The fishermen were accused of straying into Iran’s waters while fishing in the Arabian Sea.
Nizar Kochery, Regional Co-ordinator of the South Asian Fishermen’s Fraternity (SAFF), said he would meet Indian Ambassador to Iran A N Srivastava and senior officials of the Iranian coastguards on September 9 and 10 during his mission, which is carried out at the initiative of Indian parliamentarian Helen Davidson of Kannyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
Sixteen fishermen of the group are from Kannyakumari district and the rest from Kerala.
Kochery, who is also a regional convener of the Migrants Asia, a forum championing issues of migrant workers from South and South East Asia, said he would urge the authorities in Tehran to release the fishermen after accepting the mandatory fines which he said the federal and Tamil Nadu governments have agreed to pay.
Kochery said he would also explore the possibility of extending immediate financial assistance to the members of the group.
The SAFF official said litigation is not only extremely expensive but could also result in further delay in the release of the fishermen.
He termed the recent initiatives of Qatar to release Indian fishermen arrested for straying into the country’s territorial waters after paying token amounts ranging between QR1,000 and QR2,000 as a “laudable step,” which he said could be emulated by other countries of the region.
Kochery said such initiatives would go a long way in settling similar issues.
“Already there is a remarkable understanding among the country’s coastguards about the issues faced by fishermen and a similar treatment is also expected from other countries as well,” he said.
Most of the territorial violations take place owing to the absence of proper demarcation of the water boundaries, he said.
“There are not too many incidents of deliberate infiltration by Indian fishermen,” he said.
Earlier this year a group consisting of 15 Doha-based Indian fishermen was also detained in Iran for more than four months. They were finally released after diplomatic parleys between the two countries.
Kochery: Iran mission
