The land mafia involved in mangroves cutting in Keamari Town kidnapped an activist of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) on Monday morning and after mercilessly beating him up, lodged a fake FIR against him at Mauripur police station, the PFF said in a statement.
Quoting PFF activists, the statement said that two activists, Latif Dorai and Bilal Baloch, were on their way to see their friends in Kaka Village. “When they reached Younusabad, armed men of Haji Younus stopped their vehicle and tried to abduct them both, but Bilal escaped while Latif was kidnapped. Later, when the PFF leaders approached the police, the kidnappers brought back Dorai in a serious condition and lodged a fake FIR against him as if he attempted to attack them,” the PFF claimed in the statement.
When PFF chairperson Mohammed Ali Shah and General Secretary Saeed Baloch reached the police station along with a large number of their activists, the police officials supported the land mafia instead of lodging case against the real culprits.
In the statement, the PFF leaders condemned the incident and termed it as a conspiracy to allow criminals to create uncertainty in the area. The land mafia had also killed two PFF activists, Abdul Ghani and Haji Abu Bakar on May 6, 2011.
Saeed Baloch said that the PFF has launched a campaign against the land mafia to protect mangrove forests, which act as a natural shield by averting the threat of cyclones and hurricanes. He said that the campaign they have launched is still going on and they will not allow anybody to destroy natural resources.