May 03, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1429

KARACHI, May 2: Representatives of the fishermen community in Karachi have urged the Sindh government to stop appointing political figures as administrator or chairman of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS).

Haji Mohammad Yunis, a spokesman for the coastal area fishermen and a former director of the FCS, said that a meeting of the fishermen community living along the coastline was held here to discuss the issues relating to the future FCS leadership and the matters concerning the Karachi Fish harbour.

The meeting expressed concern over strong indications that once again a political figure was being appointed as FCS chairman/administrator. It described the move as ill-advised and against the interests of the fishermen community. The meeting observed that every political figure who held the position in the past had seriously undermined the fishing industry.

Haji Yunis recalled that the FCS, established in 1945, ran smoothly till the early 90s and faced no crisis as it remained under the control of non-political figures, although many of them appeared to be senior government officials, during this period.

He said the society started facing serious financial and administrative problems when the government started appointing political personalities to head the FCS. The situation aggravated when the provincial government delayed the election of the chairmanship after the departure of the Navy personnel from the harbour.

He also recalled that in the ’80s and early ’90s, the FCS faced no financial crisis and its administrative affairs had been handled by low-paid officials. However, financial crisis started hitting it when the provincial government nominated a member of the then ruling party as FCS chairman.

He regretted that the FCS was the only NGO in the country whose administrative control was with the government and its elected directors were subservient to government functionaries.