By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS,
Islamabad : The Pakistan interior ministry has asked the Sindh government to probe the death of an Indian fisherman due to electric shock in a Karachi jail.
Bhagwandas Bhika, suffered a fatal electric shock from a water pump when he was washing clothes in Malir Jail Monday. He and 15 other fishermen were arrested in April and brought to the Karachi jail after their boat drifted into Pakistani waters by strong sea currents.
“We have asked for investigations and hopefully will receive the report in a day or so,” an official of the interior ministry said. He said the body would be transported to India after confirmation by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
“We have informed the (Indian) high commission about the tragic death and now it’s up to them when they will visit the body for confirmation,” said the official.
He said the post mortem on the body was conducted Tuesday but “we have yet not received the report”. He however said that the Sindh government has informed the interior ministry about the death and placed the body in a mortuary after the post mortem.
He said a judicial team was also carrying out a preliminary inquiry into the incident.
Pakistan and India regularly arrest each other’s fishermen when they mistakenly enter the other’s territorial waters due to strong sea currents.
Last month, Pakistan released 97 Indian prisoners during the talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries. However, both the government have so far not formulated any mechanism to release poor fishermen, many of who have to spend months and in some cases years in jails of the other country.