The man on the Indian fishing boat was shot dead by Pakistan’s forces on Saturday

New Delhi:

India has strongly condemned the killing of an Indian fisherman by Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency or PMSA in an unprovoked firing, sources have said.

The man on the Indian fishing boat was shot dead by Pakistan’s forces on Saturday after they fired at the boat, sources said.

“We have taken serious note of this incident. We are going to take up this issue diplomatically with the Pakistani side. The matter is under investigation and further details will be shared in due course,” said the source, asking not to be identified.

A second fisherman was injured. He is being treated at a hospital in Gujarat’s Okha.

“A fisherman from Maharashtra, who was on a fishing boat ‘Jalpari’ was killed after the PMSA personnel opened fire on him and other crew members on Saturday evening,” Devbhumi Dwarka Superintendent of Police Sunil Joshi said.

Mr Joshi said the boat was carrying seven men. The body of the fisherman who was killed, Sridhar Ramesh Chamre, 32, was brought to Okha port on Sunday and a First Information Report or FIR was filed with Navi Bandar police, which has jurisdiction across Gujarat over any incident that occurs beyond 12 nautical miles in the Arabian sea, the officer said.

Residents at village Vadrai in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, where the fisherman who was killed by Pakistan lived, say they are heartbroken in hearing about the incident.

Mr Chamre was in the cabin of the boat when he was hit by bullets, said Jayantibhai Rathod, the owner of the fishing boat.

“Three bullets hit him on the chest, following which he died. The captain of the boat was also injured in the indiscriminate firing by the Pakistani personnel,” Mr Rathod told reporters.

Over the years, incidents of Pakistan firing at Indian fishing boats and detaining Indian fishermen have been reported from time to time.

As recent as February this year, Pakistan acknowledged that 270 fishermen and 49 civilian prisoners, who are Indians or believed to be Indians, are in their jails. During the same period, there were 77 Pakistan fishermen and 263 Pakistan civilian prisoners in India’s custody, the government had said in the Rajya Sabha.

In February 2012, two Italian marines on board an Italian flagged oil tanker had shot dead two Indian fishermen, who were on a fishing boat off the Kerala coast in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

With inputs from PTI