New Delhi, Jan. 31: The chiefs of the coastal security forces of India and Pakistan talked over a “hotline” telephone link this morning and agreed that the Indian fishing boats that had sailed into Pakistani waters off Gujarat would be asked to return without use of force.

Today’s talks were the latest in a weekly routine since the “hotline” was established last November, the director-general of the Indian Coast Guard, Vice-Admiral Rusi F. Contractor, said here. “We exchange notes on Wednesday every week. The communication has become routine.”

Quietly but deliberately, the Indian Coast Guard and the Pakistani Maritime Security Agency (MSA) have institutionalised a rare confidence-building measure that is benefiting hundreds of thousands of fisherfolk in Gujarat and Sind. It has not been publicised but the benefits are tangible.

The measure, however, is still taking a circuitous route. The head of the Pakistani MSA in Karachi has to talk to the DG Coast Guard in New Delhi, while the transgressions into territorial waters take place mostly off Gujarat.

In the case of India, coordinates of fishing boats across the maritime boundaries have to be transmitted to New Delhi for the DG Coast Guard to convey to his counterpart.

The next step would be to establish direct links between the coastal security agencies in Gujarat and Sind, said senior coast guard sources.

But against the background of the tardy progress made when the hotline was in the works — it took more than four years — the CBM stands out as a tangible achievement.

“We have a samjhauta — an understanding,” said Contractor. “This morning, in fact, the Pakistani officer told me about two fishing boats that had entered into their waters.” The country fishing boats are rarely equipped with modern navigational aids like global positioning systems. “So we permit boats straying two or five nautical miles beyond the notional international maritime boundary off Gujarat to return,” he said.

What is remarkable about the confidence-building measure is that it has been established in spite of disputes on the maritime boundary between India and Pakistan.