KARACHI: Mohammad Ali Shah, the founder chairman of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), died on Wednesday at the age of 65. He was admitted to a local hospital a couple of weeks back for treatment for Covid-19.

Born on June 19, 1956, Shah as a child was enrolled in a madressah but he had a restless spirit which made him to run away from there many times before his parents admitted him to a local community school. He was a self-respecting individual who paid for his own education and did his graduation in Economics from the University of Karachi in 1986.

It was at this university that he also got involved in student and nationalist politics. He was still studying when he established a community organisation for social development work in his village in Ibrahim Hyderi.

Alongside, he built theater groups to spread awareness among fishing communities about their rights. He also felt the need to question government policies that were taking away the rights of fisherfolk in favour of private contractors and international fishing companies.

During the 1990s, Shah attended numerous international meetings and saw the fishing associations working for the betterment of the fishing communities in the countries he visited. His participation in the Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers Conference in Delhi in 1997 opened his eyes to various strategies that could help fisherfolk. Coming back, he organised a day-long workshop with the activists of various fishing communities in Sindh, which eventually resulted in the formation of the PFF in 1998.

Situation that made M.A. Shah form PFF

More than five million fisherfolk suffer from historical discrimination. Prior to the colonial period, they existed as low-caste and marginalised communities but independent and free to earn their living from fishing, transport and boat construction, and net-making. But the British awarded ownership of large tracts of land to the nobility and built dams and canals. This converted the landless labourers and artisans into serfs, along with those living in the fishing communities, and the dams and canals fragmented the fishing communities.

Along the coasts, government policies granted fishing contracts to international trawlers and supported the middlemen.

As a result, the fishermen were deprived of fishing rights and were marginalised as contract labour, becoming indebted to these middlemen. The condition of the fishing communities have deteriorated, and this has adversely affected the management of water resources. Lakes and rivers have become polluted and fish production is being replaced by fish farms. Destruction of mangroves around the coasts and drag net farming by trawlers have been especially harmful to the environment and the livelihoods of the local fisherman, who do not have the resources for deep sea fishing.

With the international boundary drawn in the center of the waterway, authorities from both sides also arrest fishermen for straying. And the government has not taken interest in opening educational and medical facilities along the coast.

A strong social movement

The PFF, a democratic organisation with over 100,000 memberships across the country having a minimum 35 per cent women ratio, today is one of the strongest social movements in Pakistan. It has, over the years, proven itself as a nursery for producing leaders in the fishing and peasant communities of Pakistan. Its struggle targets policy issues relate to fishing rights, fish marketing and fish conservation, rehabilitation of the Indus Delta, sustainable fisheries policy, abolition of the contract system over inland waters, historical fishing rights on entire water bodies for indigenous fisherfolk, discouraging industrial fishing by deep sea trawlers and marine pollution, and detention of fishermen.

Shah said that even though you cannot stop the sealife from crossing the invisible border lines, the fishermen who do so while earning their bread and butter are unfairly subjected to punishment.

Besides, agrarian reforms, land reforms and promotion of organic farming are some of the other advocacy points of the organisation. The PFF also opposes coal power plants and supports alternative renewable energy projects. The PFF’s capacities and capabilities pertaining to working in the field of early warning, rescue and evacuation, emergency response and early recovery have been recognised at national and international levels.

Life partner

Shah’s late wife Tahira Ali Shah always remained by her husband’s side. She was instrumental in motivating the women fisherfolk in their struggle for justice. As a founding member of the PFF, she also remained its co-chairperson till the time of her passing in a tragic road accident six years ago. She died on March 10, 2015 near Sujawal on her way to Badin to attend a rally for mobilising the fisherfolk communities to celebrate the International Day of Action for Rivers. Shah was also with her in the car, which fell into a ditch after the driver lost control in trying to save a motorcyclist. He was hospitalised for several weeks after that but eventually gained his strength back. One often found him sitting on the road at protests in Ibrahim Hyderi or outside the Karachi Press Club as he held up the sky blue PFF banner along with the people of his community.

He leaves behind four sons and two daughters.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2021