KARACHI, Dec 15: The influx of migrants in Karachi is resulting in further curtailment of jobs for locals, a seminar was told here on Thursday. The seminar on “Migrant’s impact on Karachi” was organized by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) at the Vicky Zeitlin Media Library in connection with the United Nations’ International Migrant’s Day.

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) leader Saeed Baloch in his presentation on the impact of migrant factor on the local fishing sector said that the influx of cheap illegal immigrant labour had further reduced the already limited job opportunities for the locals.

He said that once local women were engaged in prawn-peeling industries of Karachi, but now migrant workers mainly from Bangladesh and Burma were increasingly being given these jobs due to cheaper wages.

Mr Baloch said that in order to maximize their profits the industrialists preferred the migrant workers over the local ones, as they worked on very low wages and toil for longer hours under very harsh condition.

He said that the migrant fishermen were also widely engaged in on-boat fishing activities due to the patronage of influential persons.

The PFF leader said that the migrant workers did not care about the environmental issues and they freely use banned fishing nets to mar precious fishing resources of the country.

He said that as the fishing sector was linked to agriculture, so due to the tax exemption factor investors had heavily invested in this sector, resulting in over-fishing in our part of the ocean.

Excessive fishing through banned nets is widely in practice for getting very cheap trash fish, used in poultry feed, he added.

Mr Baloch said that the fishing resources of Sindh and Balochistan were being brutally exploited and harmed by foreign factory trawlers.

He alleged that these factory trawlers catch fish from Pakistani waters and sell it at foreign harbours, depriving the country from valuable revenue.

The PFF leader feared that if the situation prevailed, the fishing sector would soon be destroyed completely.

He charged that high-ups in the fisheries departments and other policymaking bodies were well-aware of the deteriorating situation of the local job market due to the influx of migrant workers, but they were not taking any firm action due to their alleged personal vested interests.

Mr Baloch alleged that the sea-lords of Ibrahim Haideri, Shah Bander and other fishing communities of Sindh had built illegal jetties and employed thousands of illegal migrant workers, mostly Bengalis.

Police and administration is turning a blind eye towards this crucial issue due to the influence of these sea lords, he added.

Mr Baloch demanded effective checks against the illegal migrant workers to protect the interests of the local workers, as well as, the national economy.

He suggested that an efficient social security umbrella for local workers was required to check the mismanagement and corruption.

The seminar was told that according to rough estimates over one million illegal migrants, mostly Afghanis, Bengalis and Burmese were present in Karachi and their number would likely to grow if the authorities failed to take preventive measures on emergent basis.—PPI