Pakistan: Sindhi nationalist parties to hold protest against enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings

Islamabad, Nov 5 (IANS) The Sindhi nationalist parties will hold protests in Sindh province on November 9 to reiterate their demands for release of the alleged missing persons and express opposition to the extrajudicial killings, local media reported on Wednesday.

The decision to hold protest was taken during a meeting organised by Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM) in Hyderabad on Tuesday. JSM's Chairman Riaz Ali Chandio, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz's Niaz Kalani, Sindh United Party's Roshan Ali Buriro, Jeay Sindh Tehreek's Anwar Burdi and Qaumi Awami Tehreek's Altaf Khaskheli and other leaders participated in the meeting, leading Pakistani daily The Express Tribune reported on Wednesday.

During the meeting, the participants shared a list of 22 persons, majority of whom are students and farmers, and who have been missing since 2010. The leaders demanded safe recovery of all the missing persons and putting an end to enforced disappearances. They urged the authorities to book suspects in FIRs if they have proof regarding their involvement in the alleged unlawful activities.

They also condemned the modus operandi of the police personnel of allegedly killing or injuring suspects in staged encounters. They also voiced serious concerns about the proposed 27th amendment in Pakistan's constitution, insisting that the people of the province have already lost certain rights through the 26th amendment. They said that federal government wanted to further deprive Sindh of its resources.

Earlier in October, leading human rights groups in and outside Pakistan have denounced the alleged enforced disappearance of Sindh National Students Federation's (SNSF) central chief organiser Ghani Aman Chandio, who was reportedly abducted from a hospital in Karachi.

Eyewitnesses said that incident happened at Memona Hospital in Karachi on October 28, when Chandio was there for the treatment of his infant daughter. According to witnesses, a group of armed men in plain clothes, allegedly accompanied by Pakistani paramilitary rangers came to the hospital, confiscated mobile phones, destroyed CCTV footage and blindfolded Ghani Aman Chandio before taking him away in presence of his family, The Balochistan Post reported.

In a statement, Amnesty International South Asia described the abduction of Ghani Amani Chandio a "blatant attack on his rights to liberty, dignity and due process" and urged Pakistani authorities to reveal his whereabouts and ensure his safe return.

"PAKISTAN: The abduction of student activist Ghani Aman Chandio on 28 October from Memona Hospital in Karachi, allegedly by state forces, is deeply troubling. The abduction of a father visiting his hospitalized infant daughter is not only cruel and inhumane, but also a blatant attack on his rights to liberty, dignity and due process," Amnesty International South Asia posted on X.

According to the eyewitnesses, plain-clothes men accompanied by uniformed law enforcement officials, abducted Ghani, intimidated bystanders in the hospital and confiscated the mobile phones of all family members present.

"Ghani had previously been named in a criminal case on charges of 'anti-state' slogans during a protest and had delivered a lecture at the local university on student politics the day before his abduction. We are very concerned about Ghani’s safety. The Pakistani authorities must immediately disclose Ghani’s fate and whereabouts and ensure his safe return. Further, authorities must conduct a prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigation into his abduction, and bring to justice all those suspected to be responsible," read the Amnesty statement.

--IANS

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