SANGHAR, May 3: Activists of the Fisherfolk Forum took out a procession here on Tuesday in protest against the contract system. The protestors after marching on the main roads reached the office of the district nazim. They staged a sit-in outside the press club and blocked the Mirpurkhas road for traffic.

Leaders of the forum said there were more than 200 small and big lakes in the Nara canal system and thousands of fishermen were depending on fishing.

They said they were virtually facing starvation due to the contract system.

They said that contracts were awarded to favourites at the throwaway rates.

They said they had been living there for a long time and their only livelihood was to catch fish but they had been deprived of their right. They threatened that if fishing rights were given to contractors, they would fight against the system.

They said influential people were harassing them.