It is no more easy and safe for the mariners and Port Security Force (PSF) to perform duty at the Karachi Port. It, indeed, was not so dangerous for a Keamari based port security personnel to discharge his duty fearlessly at the country's largest seaport until Wednesday night.
Wednesday marked a rare tension in the port's neighbourhood, Keamari UC 1 and 3, where an enraged group of protesters, mostly the fishermen, staged a sit-in at Khamis Gate of Karachi Port after clashing with a mariner at Keamari Boat Basin. The incident took place at around 2 pm when a mariner from TMF Qasim, a Manora-based training centre of Pakistan Navy, while mediating got involved in a scuffle with an owner of a boat who was allegedly maltreating a family.
The trainee mariner, who was running late to reach PNS Shifa Hospital for treatment, wanted the driver to speed up the boat instead of arguing with the ladies. The intervention fell heavily on the fishermen who allegedly started roughing up the mariner while the boat had almost berthed at the harbour, locally known as Number 1.
According to eyewitnesses, seeing the mariner being beaten up, the personnel of PSF and Pakistan Mariners, a branch of Pakistan Navy deputed to guard Karachi Port, rushed for his rescue and dispersed the mob. Backed by political parties like the Awami National Party and Bilawal Lovers Organisation (BLO) - a branch of the ruling PPP, a group of protesters, later, blocked the road in front of the Khamis Gate by staging a sit-in. The protesters wanted to enter the port but were prevented by the PSF and Pak Mariners who baton charged them, eyewitnesses said.
According to sources, the mariners also detained a protester who, however, was released later when office bearers of the ANP, BLO and Katchi Ittehad, parleyed with the on-duty Commandant Khalid Munir. Meanwhile, an angry mob, demanding the hand over of TMF Qasim's trainee and sacking of the involved mariners, set ablaze a motorbike of a mariner along with part of gate Number 9 of the Karachi Port, but the worst was yet to come.
According to Asif Bhatti, President Bona Fide Fishermen and Boat Owners Welfare Association, the fishermen community had long been facing humiliation at the hands of port security personnel at the jetty.
He claimed that mariners had not only manhandled the fishermen but also used abusive language against their ladies at the jetty. It was around 11 pm when a mariner, Hamid Zia alias Piya, an active participant of the afternoon's anti-riot drive, was intercepted, roughed up and detained by a group of people allegedly from the BLO. Knowing this, PSF's Deputy Commandant Kamran Sharif telephoned the police, but it went in vain.
The sources claimed the mariners and the PSF personnel then raided the BLO office and, astonishingly, found a police ASI beating up their injured colleague. The raiders then lost temper and manhandled the abductors there. The deputy sub-inspector, backed by BLO's office bearers, lodged a FIR against the PSF officials.
During all this, the usually peaceful neighbourhood remained tense because of aerial firing. Heavy contingents of law enforcement agencies were deployed in the area to avoid any untoward situation. Now, whereas the MNA Qadir Patel and KPT Chairperson Nasreen Haque have agreed to meet on Friday to seek an amicable resolution to the issue, safety of the port security personnel, most of them Keamariites, remains doubtful.
"I am concerned about reaching home safely," said an on-duty PSF man on Wednesday night when unknown attackers maltreated his colleague, Zia, who was on his way home to Keamari. One may rightly be concerned about the recurrence of such incidents, as happened with Zia, who was targeted while heading home after work.
According to the KPT sources, almost 70 to 80 percent of PSF personnel resided in Keamari, a fact that poses danger to the safety of security guards. The risk increases manifold given the fact that, the impoverished vicinity - Keamari, is predominantly inhabited by dock workers and fishermen who are more likely to have Wednesday's-like clash with the personnel mandated to police the Karachi Port. There are some who believe that Karachi Port Trust should consider settling its personnel, who in a short span of time have become the backbone of the port security, outside Keamari as a practicable solution to avoid such happenings in prospect.