Fishing away: The agonies of stateless citizens

NARA issues alien cards to fishermen for Rs250 every year.

KARACHI:

After fishing in the Arabian Sea for 24 days, 52-year-old Abu Ahmed, the captain of a fishing boat returned to Karachi - a day before the Pakistani forces surrendered in 1971. 

Ahmed’s thoughts were preoccupied by how his wife and children in Feni, Bangladesh would be celebrating the day. “I have not seen my family in the last 12 years because I cannot go back to Bangladesh,” he said. “I am tired of thinking of ways to see my family.” Ahmed added that he did not have a passport which was necessary for a visa and to travel to Bangladesh. The last time he met his family he had travelled by sea, a mode of travelling that was shut down nearly 10 years ago.

“After every fishing trip I think about going to visit my children who are now college students,” he said. “However, I fail every time as my passport is not acceptable any more and I cannot make a new computerised one because I have no computerised national identity card (CNIC).” He added that the  National Aliens Registration Authority (NARA) had issued a card to him on a yearly basis from Rs250. According to Ahmed, the NARA card helped them get a crew card which is compulsory for fishermen.

Ahmed said that he was born in Pakistan and got married in Bangladesh after its independence. He returned to Pakistan and invested 30 years of his life on the coasts of the Arabian Sea as a fishermen like many other Bengalis.

“I would never like my children to join this profession,” he said while talking about his life. “Life on the sea is very hard. It ruins you. It changes your body, face structure and makes you look older than your actual age.”

He expects that he will be given Rs10,000 for his last trip when the boat owner sells the fish he caught. Although his family usually relies on their agricultural output, he does send them money when someone from Karachi goes there.

Like most of the Bengalis living in the country, Ahmed does not celebrate Bangladesh’s national day. “I was born here and grew up here and now earning here,” he said. “I love Pakistan even though my family is not here.”

Muhammad Hussain, 45, an employee of the Fishermen Corporative Society told The Express Tribune that around 70 per cent of the business was dealt with by Bengalis. “Although they are fishermen, they do not enjoy the same status as the Sindhi, Balochi, Kutchi and Pathan fishermen. Most of them are brokers who buy and sell fish, boat technicians and labourers.”

He claimed that more than 2.5 million Bengalis lived in Machar Colony, Korangi, Orangi, Baldia Town, and Gulshan-e-Iqbal. He said that NARA was prejudiced. “The officials from NARA force the Bengali fishermen to get their NARA cards instead CNIC otherwise they would not be able to get the crew cards.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2011.