HYDERABAD, Nov 22: Speakers at a meeting, held to mark the World Fishermen’s Day, have demanded that Kutcha land should be given to fishermen on easy instalments.

Stressing the need for a joint struggle to secure due share of the Indus water for Sindh, they said if the water shortage continued in the province, its tens of thousands of families and culture would be destroyed.

They were speaking at the meeting, organized by the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Mallah Tanzeem (STPMT), in collaboration with Oxfam, Sindh, and the National Rural Support Programme, on dry bed of the River Indus here on Thursday.

Noted poet Tajal Bewas said the River Indus had been running dry for the last several years and if the situation was allowed to continue, it would become difficult for the people of the province to survive, and thousands of years old civilization of Sindh would also be destroyed.

He said Sindh was facing an artificial shortage of water, created by Punjab.

The chairman of the STPMT, Arab Mallah, deplored that due to acute shortage of water in the river, the poor fishermen had become beggars.

He said according to the decision of the Supreme Court, the Sindh government had to legislate a law for the welfare of the fishermen, but no progress had been made in this regard.

He deplored the kutcha land was being allotted to the army personnel though the fishermen had the exclusive right over the land, as they had been living there for centuries.

Mallah said 1.5 million acres of land had been destroyed and half a million of forest land had disappeared over the years as no water had been released downstream Kotri Barrage, which was a violation of the 1991 Water Accord.

He said thousands of fishermen were languishing in Indian prisons but no efforts had been made for their repatriation.

A leader of the Awami Tehrik, Abrar Kazi, refuted the claim that the shortage of water was due to natural causes. He argued if it was true, the other provinces should also have been affected, but it was not so.

He demanded that the fishermen should also be provided facilities, including pension and health care, which had been made available to the workers under the labour laws.

MPA-elect Farheen Mughal severely criticised the allotment of land of Sindh to the people from Punjab.

NRSP representative Prof Aijaz Qureshi called upon the people of Sindh to unite for their rights.

Others who spoke on the occasion included, Nazeer Memon, Sher Mohammad Pirzado, Mohammad Ilyas Mallah and Faiz Mohammad Mallah.

The gathering adopted several resolutions, calling upon the Indus River System Authority to ensure water supply to Sindh in accordance with the law and demanded restoration of license system for fishing.

It also demanded the exclusive rights of the fishermen for fishing in the River Indus and ponds should be acknowledged, the kutcha land should be given to fishermen on easy instalments, law for rights of the fishermen should be legislated as per the decision of the Supreme Court and the fishermen should be given loans.