New Delhi, Feb. 16: India today lodged a protest with Pakistan after an Indian fisherman was killed in firing from patrol boats of the Pakistani Maritime Security Agency earlier this week in the vicinity of the disputed Sir Creek on the Gujarat coast.

The protest was lodged after the director-general of the Coast Guard, Vice-Admiral A.K. Singh, was asked to visit Coast Guard stations in Gujarat to inquire about the firing. But navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash said there was some concern that the incident had taken place because of the transgression of boundaries.

Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner in New Delhi Munwar Bhatti was summoned to the ministry of external affairs. It is understood that Pakistan, too, has said it is Indian recalcitrance that led to the incident in which fisherman Shanti Lal Mangal was killed and three Indian fishing boats ?Pushpak, Shiv Mukti and Bhiva ? were confiscated.

The Pakistani Maritime Security Agency ? the counterpart of the Coast Guard ? has claimed that its patrol open fire on the boats on February 13 after they did not heed warnings and continued to sail in Pakistani waters.

But the maritime boundary at Sir Creek is disputed with both India and Pakistan officials currently engaged in talks to demarcate it. However, the killing of the fisherman is evidence that the telephone hotline contact to which the MSA and the Coast Guard had agreed last year has not yet been established.

The hotline was touted as a confidence building measure with direct benefits for the fisherfolk of India and Pakistan.

Statistics released by the ministry of external affairs today offer just a glimpse of how essential such a hotline contact is in the disputed area of Sir Creek. Since October 2003, Pakistan has released 1,117 fishermen caught in Pakistani waters off India’s west coast through the Wagah border. There are still about 400 Indian fishermen in Pakistani jails. The boats of the fishermen have not been released.

Ministry sources said there were 59 Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails and 37 boats have been confiscated. India has released 222 Pakistani fishermen since 2003. The sources said India today also granted consular access to Pakistani fishermen in Jamnagar jail.