40,000 fishermen to march to Punjab Assembly

2,300 fishermen attend rally in Muzafargarh, demand an end to contractor system.

MULTAN:

“Around 40,000 fishermen from all over the country will march to the Punjab Assembly on May 31 to protest discrimination against them, demand their rights and introduce immediate legislation against contractors in the fishing sector,” Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) leaders announced on Sunday.

The PFF, a non-government organisation working for the rights of fishermen, has accused the government of “a peak in discrimination against fishermen”.

It held a rally in Muzaffargarh on Sunday which was attended by more than 2,300 fishermen from all over the province. Around 900 fisherwomen also participated. They demanded that the government end the condition of holding contracts in order to be able to fish.

PFF senior manager Mustafa Gurgaze told The Express Tribune that according to rules and regulations in the province, only contractors who had licence to fish could catch and sell fish. This has further deteriorated the economic conditions of the common fishermen who spend whole days and nights on rivers and canal banks.

Amir Sheikh, a 42-year-old fisherman from Muzafargarh, said, “I have been in this profession for the last 30 years. Today if we manage to catch 40 kilogrammes of fish in a day, we get to keep 3 kg at most and the rest is taken by the contractors licenced by the Punjab government. We have no rights and we are not literate and cannot get the licences.

Hijab Arsalan, a fisherwoman from Sahiwal told The Express Tribune that she had come to the rally for the sake of her family. “The contractors have completely hijacked our profession. We cannot sell fish openly because we do not have a licence.”

Participants thanked the Sindh government for introducing special legislation to eradicate the authority of contractors in that province. They said that their march was aimed at abolition of the contract system and to win for the fisher folk the right to sell fish in open market.

The rally in Muzaffargarh started at the railway station and the speakers addressed the participants at Kinwan Square. Subsequently, they marched to the Kutchery where the demonstration ended.

Representing transgender among the fisher folk, Shahaana Shaani, chairperson of the transgender association Pakistan, participated in the rally with over 100 members.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2014.