Participants of a consultative meeting 'fishing contract system on River Indus in Punjab' here on Wednesday urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the system and pass an appropriate order to abolish the contractual system of public waters in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Consultative meeting was arranged by Actionaid Pakistan and participants urged the Chief Justice to take action in this regard as it did in Sindh. The Punjab fisheries department is required to follow the Sindh government by awarding public waters' contracts to the poor fishermen instead of contractors and private investors as an effective step for poverty alleviation in the province.
Fishing rights and social activists, representatives of fishermen, media and fisheries department attended the meeting. "Pakistan is the only country of the world where provincial governments are used to award contracts of public waters to contractors/investors at various locations of rivers and lakes etc for the purpose to generate revenue. In principal the fishermen who spend most of their time in water to catch fish against meager wages should be awarded fishing licenses or contracts by the government," Pakistan Fishermen Forum (PFF) president Muhammad Ali Shah said while speaking on the occasion.
He further said previously the Sindh government stopped awarding contracts of public waters to contractors and brokers in the past after the CJP took suo motu notice about deteriorating living condition of fishermen and their families. "Look four million fishermen are the most neglected and marginalized community of Pakistan. As it never happens in all other countries, it is surprising that in Pakistan the fishermen use their own boats, nets and other material for catching fish and putting it on rivers' banks against meager wages they receive from the contractors," he deplored.
He said that the existing contractual system for public waters was a best tool for the contractors to exploit the fishermen financially. The contractors are used to pay advance money to fishermen through agreements for the purpose to hire them for several years, just like bonded labour at bricks kiln.
Speaking on the occasion, fisheries department's director (research) Iftikhar Qureshi said the department was earning around Rs 150 million annually through awarding contracts of public waters at various sites. "As it is not so big revenue for the Punjab government the fishermen representatives and activists should carry out an in-depth study to propose justifiable steps to uplift the community. This will help the department to submit it to the quarters concerned so as to convince them abolish the fishing contractual system in the province," he added. He claimed that the department had already penalised and blacklisted various contractors for denying provision of medical and other facilities to the fishermen.
Earlier various fishing representatives including Muhammad Ismael, Khadim Hussain, Sumar Sindhu and others alleged that the contractors paid them a meager amount of Rs 300 to 400 for catching fish weighing 40kg. They further said the contractors were also involved in subletting the contract to third persons who used prohibited ways to catch fish.
They demanded that the fisheries department should abolish the contract system by starting it from the Indus River. Later a 15-member delegation of fishermen representatives met with the department's director general Muhamad Ashraf. Led by the Actionaid representatives Muhammad Irfan and fishing rights activist Muhammad Ali Shah the delegation urged the DG to convince the government abolish the system. The DG assured the delegation members to fulfil their demands soon.