HYDERABAD, Nov 21: The fishermen of Sindh and the leaders of NGOs and social welfare organisations have expressed grave concern over the shortage of irrigation water in Sindh and resolved to launch a joint struggle for the rights of the province.

They warned the government that if the province was not given its legal right then the same will be snatched.

They were speaking at the “Fisherman’s International Day” function held at the Manjhi House here on Wednesday.

The chairman of Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Mallah Tanzeem, Arab Mallah, said that the contract system had destroyed the fishermen of Sindh.

He said that on the one hand the shortage of water had affected thousands of fishermen’s families while on the other the contract system had proved to be the proverbial last straw.

He demanded that the contract system should be abolished and licence system for catching fish should be introduced.

Speaking on the occasion, a social worker, Allahdad Meerani, said that nothing could be achieved through separate struggles and added that all the parties and organisations should unite on one platform for the rights of Sindh.

He said that the water issue was not the problem of fishermen alone but of all the people of the province.

He said a joint struggle should be launched on this issue.

Professor Aijaz Qureshi said that due to the artificial shortage of water the agriculture sector was being destroyed.

He stressed the need for a joint struggle against the shortage of water.

Irrigation and agriculture expert Nazeer Memon said that out of 200 countries of the world, Pakistan was the only country where no proper planning had been done for providing basic facilities to fishermen.

He said that neither foreign nor local NGOs had done anything to resolve the problems of fishermen. He said by creating artificial water shortage, two million fishermen had been rendered jobless.

Director of fisheries Ghulam Mohammad Maher said that the paramount source of transport in the world was ships and added that fishermen had played a dominant role in the development of shipping industry.

He said that he will do everything humanly possible to provide maximum facilities to the fishermen.