The clash between India and Pakistan keeps growing more tentacles and civilians are always going to be the victims. The Maritime Security Agency (MSA) on Saturday arrested 88 Indian fishermen for fishing in Pakistani waters. With almost all talks regarding any sort of diplomacy between both countries failing, it is clear that instances like these are not stopping anytime soon. The Indian fishermen were arrested by the MSA while they were fishing in Pakistani waters of the Arabian Sea in the early hours of Saturday. The Docks police had registered a case against the arrested Indian fishermen on behalf of the state under Sections 3/4 of the Foreign Act and 3/9 of the Fishery Act.

The arrests are the third such incident in three months after the two countries agreed in December 2015 to reinitiate the dialogue process during Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visit to Pakistan. However, the scheduled talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries were postponed after the Pathankot airbase attack in India last month. In the previous one, Pakistan’s marine forces arrested 66 Indian fishermen for allegedly violating the country’s territorial waters in the Arabian Sea.

Although it is important to ensure the sanctity of borders but these fishermen are usually very poor and mostly lacks the equipment to ensure that they are staying in their own borders. These fishing boats that lack the technology needed to be certain of their precise location and accidentally cross boundaries? The police will present the fishermen before a magistrate, who will send them to jail for “violating territorial waters illegally”. All that is needed is a treaty, that makes sure that innocent people on both sides do not languish in jails for such mistakes, as bigger issues like the actual demarcation of territory around areas like Sir Creek remain irresolvable. Poor men in jail, for crimes of omission due to a lack of official clarity, does no country any good.