NP rallies for protecting Gwadar fishermen’s livelihoods

KARACHI: Expressing apprehension about the construction of the Gwadar East-Bay Expressway, the National Party on Sunday demanded that the government protect the local fishermen’s rights while constructing the road.

They also suggested a change in the design of the road in a way that may provide easy access to the fishermen to continue their employment up to the sea. The NP’s Sindh chapter organised a protest outside the Karachi Press Club on the directives of the party’s newly elected central president and former chief minister, Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, to show solidarity with Gwadar’s fishermen.

Muhammad Ramzan Memon, the NP’s Sindh president, led the protest while the party’s other key leaders, Ayub Qureshi, Engr Hameed Baloch, Mirza Maqsood and Majeed Sajidi, were among the speakers.

They said that the construction of the main road on the eastern coast of Gwadar would affect fishing, and that the authorities concerned had not taken steps to remove their apprehension regarding their centuries-old livelihood.