ISLAMABAD, June 21: Different non-governmental organisations on Wednesday condemned the violent police action against Sindhi fisherfolk in Karachi and demanded action against the officials that ordered the crackdown.

In a statement, the People’s Rights Movement (PRM) and a number of affiliated organizations including Anjuman Mazarain Punjab (AMP), All-Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis and Sindhu Bachao Tarla said that the repression had exposed the government’s claims of being committed to democratic principles and it also showed that government was afraid of popular mobilisation.

The movement representatives said that the struggle of Sindhi fishing communities under the banner of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) proved that unity of the working class could successfully repel the attacks of the state and multinational capital on resources that served the public interest.

They said that the corporatisation of marine resources was being matched by the corporatisation of agricultural land, while in general all resources and public assets were being privatised. They said that this unbridled attack on working people will continue to produce responses such as those of Sindhi fisherfolk and sooner or later a nationwide political movement would take shape.

They said that the ongoing upheavals in Latin America as well in Nepal, India and Bangladesh should act as a warning to the government to pay greater attention to working people’s needs.

Other processes of resistance to state and capitalist aggression are developing simultaneously including against mega water projects in the Siraiki belt, evictions of katchi abadis in Karachi and other cities, and privatisation of various state- owned enterprises.

The movement leaders pledged their complete support to the PFF and its ongoing campaign against deep sea trawlers while demanding the release of all PFF activists that are still unaccounted for and immediate withdrawal of all cases filed against them.