KARACHI, June 11: The long overdue meeting of the 15-member Board of Directors of the Fishermen Cooperative Society is being held on Monday to elect chairman and vice-chairman of the FCS.

The crucial meeting has been called by the board’s secretary in pursuance of a high court order.

A notice issued in this regard stated that in pursuance of the Sindh High Court order, the first meeting of the newly-constituted Board of Directors of the Fishermen Cooperative Society was scheduled to be held on June 12, 2006 at 12.30pm in the FCS Board Room at the Karachi Fish Harbour.

The meeting has specifically been called to elect chairman and vice-chairman of the FCS in accordance with the by-law No.34 of the society. Notices of the meeting have been issued to all the 15 directors — eight of them being government nominees and the rest elected representatives.

The government nominees are Waseem Akhtar (MNA), Commodore Syed Qamar Raza (DG Marine Fisheries Department), Shujaat Ali Qarni (Member FCS Managing Committee), Dr Nawaz Baloch (MD Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority), Syed Akhlaq Husain (Seafood Industries Association), Abdul Waheed Khan (Director Sindh Fisheries), Haji Ali Mohammad (Sindh Trawler-owners and Fishermen Association), and Shahbaz Husain (Progressive Fish Harbour).

The elected directors are Haji Mohammad Yunis, Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamot, Habibullah Baloch, Salim Deedag, Usman Lalwani, Mohammad Yaqub Tayyab and Habibullah Khan Niazi.

FCS legal adviser Mahfooz Yar Khan has also been invited to attend the meeting.

The process of forming the FCS Board had been completed after the election of the seven directors on August 4, 2004 through secret ballot as the government had already nominated the seven directors as required under the FCS by-laws. However, the board’s meeting had not been called because of differences among different components of the Sindh coalition over a consensus candidate. The elected directors had launched a vigorous campaign to force the government to hold the crucial meeting.

Instead of calling the board’s meeting, the government had constituted a three-member managing committee to look after the FCS affairs. One of the elected directors, Mr Jamot, was inducted in the committee. His joining the committee had been taken as a great setback to the traditional group of elected directors.

The contestants of the election to be held on Monday are Shujaat Ali Qarni vs Waseem Akthar (an MQM MNA) for the post of chairman. Mr Qarni, being a former environment secretary, commands great respect among civil servants and enjoys considerable support from elected directors. MNA Waseem Akhtar is an important figure in the MQM and the Sindh coalition. However, result of the election depends on the opinion of the elected directors who appeared divided. For the post of vice-chairman, Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamot, Haji Mohammad Yunis and Salim Deedag are in the run.