KARACHI, May 27 Human rights activists, trade unionists and advocacy groups called upon the president, prime minister, army chief, chief justice of Pakistan and Sindh chief minister to order a probe into what they described as brutal action taken by the personnel of the Malir cantonment security force against the villagers of Chashma Goth.

They said that the villagers were protesting against the construction of a wall which they regarded as encroachment upon their centuries-old graveyard.

The action caused injuries to six villagers including women and children, they alleged.

Speaking at a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday, representatives of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler), Pakistan Trade Union Federation, Labour Party Pakistan, People's Labour Bureau and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) condemned the “occupation of the old community graveyard” and called it a violation of human rights.

They urged the government to intervene and save the graveyard and direct the security forces not to harass the villagers who they said had been living under constant fear after the firing incident and a baton charge on protesting women and children.

They added that the community had not imagined that they would face such atrocities in response to their protest against the encroachment of their centuries-old graveyard.

The activists claimed that fake cases had been registered against poor fishermen and their leaders just to put pressure on them to withdraw their claim to the graveyard.

They rejected the claim of the army to the graveyard land. They argued that the graveyard land had been in the collective use of the villagers of Chashma Goth, Ali Akbar Goth, Ali Brohi Goth, Ali Mohammed Khaskheli Goth, Illyas Jatt Goth, Syed Para and Baloch Para.

They said that leaders of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, including chairman Mohammed Ali Shah, Qasim Khaskheli and Abu Bakar, frequently held meetings with army officials to settle the dispute. They added that during the meetings army officials claimed to have lease documents of 1,300 acres in the coastal area for the establishment of an army training centre.

The village representatives asked the army officials to show the relevant documents to ascertain how the revenue department leased out the old graveyard land for this purpose, but they [the army officials] failed to justify their claim.

They said that on May 20, 2010, personnel of the security forces came to build a boundary wall around 300 acres including the graveyard but people came out to oppose it. The police baton-charged the protesters and fired into the air, leaving six women and children injured.

The following day, they said, the police and army personnel cordoned off seven coastal villages. In reaction, fishermen kept their businesses and markets closed to condemn the incident. The military and police reached villages to conduct raids to arrest those who had been nominated in the FIR registered by the police. They arrested four villagers. However, people continued their protest.

Those who spoke at the press conference included HRCP co-chairperson Iqbal Haider, Piler's Karamat Ali, PFF's Mohammad Ali Shah, trade union leader Fareed Awan and leader of the Pakistan Peace Coalition Adam Malik.