An 11-member fact-finding team comprising activists of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and other organisations have found the accused in Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) activists Abdul Ghani and Haji Abu Bakar’s murders guilty, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Asad Iqbal Butt, Owaisuddin, Abdul Hai, Hasan Athar, Kashan Kashi and Shafi Sial of the HRCP; Mehnaz Rehman and Mariam of the Aurat Foundation; Rahima of the Strengthening Participatory Organisation; Umer Abbas of the National Organisation for Working Communities; and Shujauddin Qureshi of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research were visiting the Kakapir village in Keamari Town to probe Ghani and Bakar’s murders.
The team met with the victims’ families, the village residents, the police and the accused before preparing their report. They said that the Sindh government had repeatedly failed to protect the lives and properties of the fisherfolk, which the Pakistani government guarantees both in its Constitution and by endorsing the international human rights law. According to their report, they learnt during their visit to the village that at 2:00 am on May 6, three police mobiles carrying Haji Muhammad Younus, his son Zulfiqar Younus, around 25 armed civilians, Mauripur Station House Officer (SHO) Nasrullah Khan and a police party surrounded the houses of PFF activists Ghani, Bakar and Ejaz.
The PFF activists’ family members told the team that the accused had broken into the village through its main entrance and hurled a grenade at the PFF unit office. The accused then broke into the activists’ houses and beat up their family members, including women, before kidnapping Ghani and Bakar, the family members added. The PFF activists’ brutally tortured bodies were found at the beach of the Shams Pir Island village the next morning. The fact-finding team has stressed further investigation into the murders and arresting the perpetrators immediately.
The team learnt that the government officials and the law enforcement agencies have failed to protect the fisherfolk and other village residents, despite repeated appeals by the PFF. “There is no rule of law, land grabbing and cutting down mangroves for sale remains unchecked, and human rights’ defenders feel insecure. Moreover, due to environmental degradation, fishing is gradually becoming obsolete,” the report revealed.
The team discovered that the land mafia has taken over potable water resources in the village and disconnected water supply, and that the village residents are forced to buy water from the water tanker mafia every day. They found out that on behalf of the village residents, Ghani and Bakar had approached the local police to take action against land grabbers, but the police failed to do so and instead, registered fabricated cases against 18 to 25 village residents on the complaint of the land mafia.
Police attempted to arrest the village residents three or four times in February, but the women protested against the police whenever they raided the locality. When the team visited the office of Haji Muhammad Younus, his nephew said that the police had raided the houses of the village residents against whom complaints had been filed. Police had arrested four men, but they were released by 11:00 am on May 6, the nephew added.
He said that Ghani and Bakar were not arrested, and that they had escaped from the village during the police raid and had drowned in the sea. On a visit to the Mauripur police station, the team discovered that the SHO was not available, but the assistant sub-inspector said that he was not on duty when Ghani and Bakar were picked up. A police party had raided the activists’ houses for arresting them, he added. PFF Chairman Muhammad Ali Shah told the team that during the PFF’s campaign to protect mangroves, several letters had been written to the police and the Sindh government.
The PFF had also held several rallies and hunger strikes to draw the attention of the authorities concerned for protecting natural resources, he added. He said that the PFF had also called on Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the then Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirza, Sindh Assembly Deputy Speaker Shehla Reza, and Fisheries and Livestock Minister Zahid Hussain Bhurgri in this regard. All of these officials had assured the PFF of their full support and had asked the PFF leaders for some time so the grievances could be removed through legal action, he added.
Mirza had formed an inquiry committee under the supervision of Pakistan People’s Party leader Lal Bux Bhutto to thoroughly investigate the grievances of the Kakapir village residents and submit a report in this regard, but no action has been taken to date, regretted the PFF chairman.
