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19 TN fishermen return from Pak, Iran jails

Nineteen Tamil Nadu fishermen, who were under detention in Iran and Pakistan for the last 14 months, arrived in Chennai this morning from Mumbai by a scheduled Indian Airlines flight.

The fishermen, who were released by the Pakistani government yesterday after persistent efforts by the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government, reached Mumbai from the Pakistani port city of Karachi last night.

Hailing from southern districts of the state, the fishermen had taken up contract jobs in Saudi Arabia. It was during a voyage in February last year that they inadvertently drifted into Iranian waters. Caught by the Iranian authorities, all of them were detained for 77 days.

Today at the Chennai airport, they told newspersons that the Iranian authorities did not treat them well.

They were later released into Pakistani waters only to be apprehended once again, this time in Pakistan.

The fishermen claimed they were treated well in Pakistan.

''They gave us good food. In Iran we were treated shabbily. All we used to get (to eat) was a roti each in the morning, afternoon and evening,'' one of them recalled.

The state government had sent the fisheries department deputy director to Mumbai to receive the fishermen and accompany them to Chennai.

The fishermen were received at the airport among others by Tamil Nadu fisheries minister Jennifer Chandran, BJP state unit general secretary L Ganesan and MDMK leader Vaiko.

UNI

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