The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday chased and surrounded a Pakistani fisherman near Harami Nala in Kutch and opened fire on him. The paramilitary force not only apprehended the fisherman who had infiltrated into Indian territory, but also recovered five Pakistani fishing boats from the area.
BSF’s search party fired three rounds in an attempt to surround him, after which he was arrested. “He was part of the same team of fishermen that was caught on Thursday. “He would have hidden himself in the swamp,” a senior BSF officer said. Indian Express,
After Friday morning’s operation, the total number of Pakistani fishermen apprehended by the BSF since May 26 has risen to three. It had started searching the area after two fishermen were caught infiltrating into Indian territory on Thursday.
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Five more Pakistani boats were found in the search operation that continued till night and Friday morning. With this, the total number of Pakistani boats recovered from the Harami Nala area in the last two days has gone up to nine. However, only fish, fishing nets and fishing equipment were recovered from the boats.
Incidents where the BSF had to open fire on Pakistani fishermen infiltrating Indian waters in Gujarat are rare. According to officials, the infiltrating Pakistani fishermen fled after seeing the BSF patrolling party.
In a similar incident in September 2017, a BSF patrol had to open fire when it witnessed movement at 2 am in the disputed Sir Creek area. Five rounds of firing were carried out to prevent the infiltrating fishermen from escaping back into Pakistani territory.
Meanwhile, BSF teams are continuing to search the area which is part of Kutch coast where plastic packets containing medicines were found washed ashore repeatedly.