Work at port resumes as fishermen call off channel blockade
KARACHI: Protesting fishermen, who had blocked shipping activities at Karachi port in protest over the attitude of the Balochistan government, ended the blockade of the main channel on Wednesday evening following successful talks with authorities.
Since Tuesday afternoon, the fishermen of Sindh assembled their trawlers across the main channel to halt all shipping activities against “the unjust and tyrannical treatment meted out to them by the Balochistan government”.
In a brief statement issued on Wednesday evening, the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) said that the all shipping activities were resumed after the protesting fishermen cleared the channel.
It all began earlier this week when thousands of fishermen and boatmen gathered at the Karachi Fisheries on the call of the Sindh Trawler Owners and Fishermen Association (STOFA) for a protest, highlighting what they called the unjust and tyrannical treatment by the Balochistan government.
STOFA’s president Habibullah Khan Niazi said that both fishermen and fisheries were suffering in Sindh due to Balochistan.
“The fishermen of Sindh are being pushed against a wall. They [Balochistan government] have created boundaries within our waters, imposing and creating limitations for us. Fishermen are not allowed to fish in Balochistan, if we do, our boats get confiscated and the fishermen got arrested. On the other hand, Sindh never set boundaries for anyone. Yet Balochistan is bent on taking away morsels from our children’s mouths,” he had said and added. “We see the fishermen in Balochistan as our brothers, but they don’t consider us the same.”
Talks between the protesting fishermen and authorities were first held on Tuesday but ended in a deadlock. It began again on Wednesday and ended in an agreement.
The authorities assured the protesters of making their fishing in Balochistan waters smooth without any action from the provincial authorities and find a mutual solution that could regulate the business for fishermen of both the provinces in each other’s territories.
The talks were led by Special Assistant to Prime Minister Mahmood Maulvi.
He tweeted that talks between the two sides resulted in success through efforts from the Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA). “All justified demands of the fishermen would be accepted through all due procedures,” he said.
Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022
