24 May 2004	Monday	04 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

KARACHI, May 23: A large number of people, mainly fishermen and their families living along the Sindh coastline, staged a demonstration on Sunday in front of the Karachi Press Club in protest against the recent incident in which the Indian coast guards had killed three Pakistani fishermen.

The demonstration was organized by Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum. The demonstrators, many of them women and children, raised slogans against the Indian coast guards and demanded justice. Families of the victim fishermen, who live in Kharo Chhan, Thatta district, also took part in the demonstration.

Addressing the protesters, PFF leader Mohammad Ali Shah and others criticized the governments of Pakistan and India for failing to devise a clear policy on the limits of territorial waters in no less than 56 years. The only sufferers of this lapse appeared to be the poor fishermen, they lamented.

Condemning the Indian coast guards for opening fire at the fishermen who, they claimed, had been fishing far from the Indian territorial waters, they demanded that both the countries should allow fishing within 50 miles of their respective limits.

They called for an inquiry into the shooting incident at international level and said that Islamabad should take up the matter with the United Nations and press India for the release of the Pakistani fishermen languishing in Indian jails.

Mr Shah also criticized Islamabad for issuing licence to foreign trawlers for deep-sea fishing. He announced that the PFF would organize a conference on May 31 and also a big rally on June 10 in Hyderabad for the release of Pakistani fishermen from Indian jails, to sort out the problems arising out of the non-release of freshwater into the Indus delta, and discuss other issues related to fishing sector.

Before converging on the press club, the fishermen took out a rally to register their protest. -PPI