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Brief narrative |
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-008-2011
22 January 2011
The villages of fisher folk are being grabbed by powerful persons from the ruling party
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the land mafia from the ruling party is occupying the villages of fisher folk by using force and destroying the eco system of the coast by earth filling in the sea and cutting the mangrove forests. One infamous land grabber, Mr. Haji Muhammad Younus attacked a century-old fishermen’s village, the Kakkapir, to vacate the village by its inhabitants, injuring many persons by firing at huts of the village. The police refused to file the FIR (first information report) owing to the involvement of powerful persons. Two fishermen who reported in writing about the incident to the police were searched by the armed men of the land grabbers to punish them for lodging a complaint. The land grabbers have occupied many villages and encroached upon them to make houses for commercial purposes. A vast area of the coastal line was filled with earth through land filling and converted into commercial areas.
CASE NARRATIVE: Mr. Haji Muhammad Younus and his son Mr. Zulfiqar Younus are activists of the ruling party, Pakistan Peoples Party, and infamous for grabbing land around the coastal area of Mauripur, Karachi and encroaching on the small villages of the fisher folk. Mr. Zulfiqar was also the town nazim (mayor) of Kemari Town during the regime of former General Musharraf for five years. The major coastal area comes under the Kemari town. On 16 January, a group of about forty armed persons headed by Zulfiqar Younus attacked the Kakkapir village at 8.20 pm and fired automatic weapons for almost one hour at the huts, injuring many people. The villagers identified some attackers by name. Some identified armed men include Shakeel Ahmad S/O Siddique, Usman S/O Ali Muhammad, Faqeer S/O Usman, Ramzan S/O Ali Muhammad, Ishaque S/O Hussain, Shafi Muhammad S/O Haji Fazlu, Aslam alias Mamoo Jan S/O Haji Suleman and Majeed S/O Aali. Others can be identified when seen. During the attack they also damaged and fired upon the office of a social organization, working for the welfare and health care of the fisher folk, and looted the valuable assets of the office that costs, according to the villagers, about Rs. 300,000/=. The local activists of the village informed the police by calling the local emergency number, but the officers did not respond to the complaint. Then the leaders of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, an organisation of the fishermen, called police to help and tried to lodge an FIR against the said group but the station house officer (SHO) Maripur, Mr. Nasrullah Khan, not only refused to do so but also insulted and asked the police to throw them out from the police station. Then hundreds of fishing persons including women and children under the leadership of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum demonstrated against such lawlessness in front of Press Club Karachi on January 18, 2011. In reaction to the demonstration, some drunkard henchmen of the land grabber named Shakeel S/O Siddique, Shafi S/O Haji Fazlu, Muhammad Saleem S/O Urs and others again rushed into the village, abused and threatened the villagers that if any action was taken by the villagers then they would face serious consequences. Two persons of the village, Haji Abu Bakar S/O Haroon and Abdul Ghani S/O Muhammad Siddique, who first lodged the complaint of attack on 16 January 2011, were hiding because the attackers have threatened that those persons will face strong reactions from their group as they have reported the matter to the police. |
