The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) has condemned the attack in which two Sindhi fishermen were murdered and three injured at a lake near Chashma Link Canal in Punjab. In a statement issued on Monday, PFF chairperson Mohammed Ali Shah demanded that the Punjab government should start a judicial inquiry into the matter and provide protection to the families of the fisherfolk community. He said two years ago, some fisherfolk acquired a few acres of land near the lake to start cultivating crops but this annoyed the contractors there. On Sunday morning, a contractor came to them and opened fire, killing Imamuddin Mallah and 13-year old Hashim Mallah, natives of villages located adjacent to Chotiari Reservoir in Sanghar district. Shah said that numerous fisherfolk shifted their families to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the flow of the Indus River reduced, depleting water bodies in Sanghar, Dadu, Jamshoro and other districts.
However, the murders have terrified the fisherfolk community, leaving the migrant fisherfolk families feeling insecure. Shah expressed concern that contractors are forcing fisherfolk in Punjab to leave lakes and other freshwater bodies. He said that the PFF, along with other human rights organisations and the civil society in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been trying to have the contract system abolished, but to no avail so far. ”The PFF will not stay quiet after this incident. We are contacting human rights activists and civil society organisations so that they can also play their due role for the protection of the poor fisherfolk,” Shah said. In Sanghar, fisherfolk staged a protest rally and demanded that the Sindh government should utilise its political influence to ensure security of their people living in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa.