Illegal occupation of lakes in Sindh to be stopped

Court orders removal of encroachments from 1,260 lakes in the province

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Thursday the provincial irrigation department and other authorities concerned to ensure removal of encroachments and end illegal occupation by private persons on the land of various lakes across the province.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, also directed the authorities concerned to issue licences to the fishermen for fishing as provided under the Sindh Fisheries Act, 2011.

These directives came on a petition seeking directives for the provincial authorities to retrieve the land of as many 1,260 big and small lakes from the occupation of influential persons and issue new fishing licences.

The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum - a representative body of fishermen – had taken the provincial irrigation department and others to court.



The petition, filed through the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum’s chairperson, Muhammad Ali Shah, and Saeed Baloch, stated that there around 1,200 big and small lakes across the province, where the sole source of income for thousands of locals was fishing.

The judges were told that the system of awarding contracts for fishing to influential persons instead of issuing fishing licences to the fishermen was abolished in the province after a long struggle by the community.

However, the influential persons who made claims on the land of the lakes, had taken over the same after losing the contracts.

Due to this, the locals had been facing difficulties in earning their livelihoods, as the local influential persons were not allowing them to freely fish, thus depriving them of their legitimate right to earn livelihood, the petitioners said.

The court was told that around 1,100 acres of land belonging to the Kunpar Lake in Sujawal district had been encroached upon by influential persons who were not letting the fishing community living there catch fish.



Their lawyer, Rasheed A Razvi, argued that the issue was of great importance as it involved the issue of livelihood of thousands of members of the fishing community, who had been deprived of their right to earn a livelihood, which had been enshrined in the Constitution.

Various lakes were filled with mud to turn the land into agricultural land, therefore, the court was pleaded to the issue directives to the irrigation department and other authorities to remove such encroachments and retrieve the lakes’ land from illegal occupation of private persons. It was also requested to direct the fisheries department to issue fishing licences to the fishermen as provided in the Sindh Fisheries Ordinance, 1980.

A fishing licence should only be issued to local fishermen instead of the private persons, who were influential and had taken over the lakes, pleaded the petitioners.

After hearing arguments, the bench directed the irrigation department and other authorities concerned to ensure the illegal encroachments and occupation by influential persons was ended at all the lakes in the province. While disposing of the plea, the judges directed the fisheries department to issue fishing licences to the fishermen.