Fishermen ailing in Pak jails: Wives seek visa to visit them

Worried over the health conditions of their spouses languishing in Pakistan jails, the wives of three Indian fishermen have requested to be granted visa to visit their husbands.
The three women - Gangaben, wife of Bhagwan Solanki from Tad village in Gir Somnath district; Amritaben, wife of Amritlal Vaishya from Wanakbara of Union Territory of Diu, and Vanitaben, wife of Dipakbhai Bamania from Kotda village in Gir Somnath - have written a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought his help in getting them visa on humanitarian grounds to go to Pakistan.
In the letter signed by the three women, they have pleaded with the PM to take up the issue with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif and request him to grant visas to them so that they can visit their husbands and enquire about their health.

The women alleged in the letter that the Pakistani authorities were not providing proper medical treatment to their spouses because of which their health condition was deteriorating in the jails where they are lodged.
In the past three years, nearly four fishermen had died in Pakistani jails due to alleged negligence by the authorities.
"So, we are worried about the health condition of our husbands," the women said in the letter.

Gangaben mentioned in the letter that her husband Bhagvanbhai Solanki was severely ill for more than a year which she learnt from other fishermen released from Pakistani jail in March this year.

She alleged that the Pakistani authorities had not communicated to her about her husband's deteriorating health which makes it obvious that they were hiding something.
Besides, the two other women alleged they had been dispatching medicines in registered covers to their ailing husbands which were never delivered to them.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Fishermen Association's senior vice president Veljibhai Masani told PTI that 70 women, including the three who have written the letter, met him in Magrol town of Gir Somnath today, requesting him to take up their issue with the Prime Minister.
The women also requested Masani to facilitate their meeting with the PM when he comes to Jamnagar on August 30.