An Indian fisherman died by suicide in a prison in Pakistan’s Karachi on Tuesday, Dawn reported.
“In the barracks, all the Indian prisoners are confined,” Jail Superintendent Arshad Husain told Dawn. “He [the fisherman] went to the washroom on Tuesday night and ended his life.”
Sindh Inspector General of Prison Police Qazi Nazeer Ahmed said that 52-year-old Gaurav Ram Anand seemed to be suffering from “severe depression” over procedural delays in his release from prison.
“His sentence was completed, but the process from the Indian side [for his release] was not finalised,” Ahmed was quoted as saying by Arab News. “Fellow prisoners reported that Gaurav’s behavior did not indicate he would commit suicide, but he was depressed.”
Anand’s body has been handed over to the Edhi Foundation and will be held in the non-profit’s custody until the legal formalities for its repatriation are completed.
Fishermen from India and Pakistan are detained by either countries’ security forces routinely for allegedly entering each other’s territorial waters by accident.
The maritime boundary in the Arabian Sea is poorly marked at several points and many boats do not have the requisite technology to ascertain their precise location, leading to unintentional border crossings, Arab News reported.
Higher pollution and dwindling fish supplies drive more Indian fishermen towards Pakistani waters than the other way around, Scroll has previously reported.
Also read: Caught for crossing invisible ocean borders, Indian and Pakistani fishermen are languishing in jail