LAHORE, Nov 2: A consultative meeting seeks chief justice’s sua sponta to abolish contracts of public waters in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtukhuwa and Balochistan, as he took such notice on the waters of Sindh and stopped contracts. In 2007, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, through an independent action, ordered the Sind government to award fishing rights only to indigenous fishermen communities.

Speakers also demanded that the Punjab Fisheries Department follow the Sindh government policy of awarding public waters’ contracts to fishermen instead of wealthy contractors to alleviate poverty in the province.

The consultative meeting titled ‘Fishing Contract System on the River Indus in Punjab’ was held by Actionaid Pakistan, a non-profit organisation, at a local hotel on Wednesday.

Fishing rights and social activists, representatives of fishermen, media and fisheries department attended the meeting.

“Pakistan is the only country where provincial governments auction public waters to contractors to generate revenue,’ Pakistan Fishermen Forum President Muhammad Ali Shah said on the occasion.

“In fact, the fishermen who dedicate their lives to fishing occupation should be awarded fishing licenses or contracts by the government.”

“There are four million fishermen in Pakistan being exploited by contractors. They use their own boats and nets for fishing only to get meager wages from their contractors,” he deplored.

He said the PPF had found many cases of bonded labour in the fishing business. “Contractors would pay advance money to fishermen binding them to only work for them for years,” he said.

Fisheries Department Director (research) Iftikhar Qureshi said the department earned Rs150 million annually through contracts of public waters.

“It is not a big amount for the Punjab government,” he said.

“Fishermen representatives should propose workable measures to the department for the betterment of fishermen,” he said. He said the department would forward those proposals to the quarters concerned to abolish fishing contracts in the province,” he added. He claimed the department had penalized several contractors for denying medical facilities to the fishermen.

Fishermen representative Muhammad Ismael said the contractors paid them Rs300 to 400 for catching 40kg of fish. He demanded that the Fisheries Department abolish the contract system by starting it from the Indus River.