Vadodara: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi today asked Home Minister P Chidambaram and Foreign
Secretary Nirupama Rao to seek release of over 550 Gujarati
fishermen languishing in Pakistan jails during their upcoming
visit to Islamabad.
"Chidambaram and Rao should pressurise their counterparts
for releasing the fishermen on humanitarian and health grounds
as some of them are suffering from diseases in the Pakistani
jails," Modi told PTI over telephone.
They should also discuss the issue of getting released
444 boats seized by Pakistan as they have stopped releasing
them since 2003, he said.
Modi said the total cost of these boats were estimated at
over Rs 250 crore. Because of the seizure of these boats, more
than 50,000 fishermen in Gujarat have become jobless, he said.
While Rao will meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman
Basher tomorrow, Chidambaram is expected to meet his Pakistani
counterpart Rehman Malik on the sidelines of the SAARC
Interior Ministers meeting in Islamabad on June 25 and 26.
-PTI
