Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Conference Disrupted (28/12/05)
Received from People's Rights Movement on 28th Dec 2005

A seminar on ‘Below Kotri water flows’ was planned by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and Action Aid Pakistan in the Dreamland Motel on December 28th (2005), the arrangements for which had been made many weeks in advance.

On arrival in Islamabad, dozens of activists of the PFF arrived at Dreamland Motel on the evening of December 27th as planned. They were told that there were insufficient rooms for them and that they could not stay in the motel as planned. While this severe inconvience was dealt with by the organisers, they could not have foreseen what was to transpire next.

• On the morning of the 28th, the hotel management locked the rooms to the hall in which the seminar was supposed to be held and told the organisers that the intelligence agencies had prohibited the hotel from hosting the event.
• A demonstration was subsequently held outside the hotel to protest this arbitrary disruption. The protestors were addressed by PFF chairperson Mohammad Ali Shah, Dr. Qadir Magsi, Hameed Asghar Shaheen, Aziz Narejo, Khadim Hussain, Mushtaq Gadi, Aasim Sajjad, and numerous other activists.
• This action demonstrates the government’s complete lack of tolerance for democratic debate – papers were to be presented at the seminar in which technical, social, economic, political and cultural perspectives were expected to be raised.
• We firmly believe that this action is a reflection of the dictatorial manner in which the government has bulldozed Water Vision 2025 on the people of Pakistan.
• In this regard, we invite you to be part of a protest demonstration to be held tomorrow (Thursday, 29 December) at 12pm in front of the offices of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to demand withdrawal of funds for mega water projects that are imposed upon the country by diktat.
• We believe that similar repressive measures may be employed by the government during tomorrow’s demonstration. Therefore it is imperative that the demonstration be attended and supported by as wide a cross-section of people as possible, particularly because dozens of fisherfolk will be present and they are likely to be subject to severe harassment and intimidation.