In a disturbing incident from Sindh, a Christian man was shot on camera in the leg by dacoits. A man of Christian faith belonging to Shikarpur, Sindh was abducted a few days ago. The dacoits who abducted him demanded a hefty ransom amount of Rs. 20 lakhs. After the family failed to give ransom, the dacoits shot him in the leg and recorded the video of the incident.  The incident has sent shockwaves through out the community as the law and order is completely parlayed to take any action against the perpetrators.

Notably, the network of dacoits is active in Sindh and works under the patronage of influential political and religious leaders. Surprisingly, more often then not, the victims of these abductions are from minority communities like Hindus and Christians.

More recently, a Hindu man named Ritik Kumar was abducted and his video of being in shekels went viral on social media. Similarly, a couple of months back, two Hindu men named Jagdish Kumar and Sagar Kumar were abducted from Sindh.

Unfortunately, the local administration and law and order machinery has consecutively failed to provide safety to individuals. Also, the perpetrators were not brought to justice, Clearly, they were protected by their patrons.

The latest case once again highlights that minorities are not safe in Pakistan. Not only does a radicalised section of society but also the legal-political system is working out of hatred against them.    

Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has started a massive campaign against the persecution of Pashtuns by Pakistan and the illegal and subversive incarceration of its leader Noorullah Tareen. Subsequently, they demanded Right to Self-determination.

On 18 March, the activists of PTM Europe and other human rights activists reached the United Nations in Geneva and protested against Pakistan highlighting the atrocities inflicted upon the Pashtun Afghan communities by Pakistan Army.

The protest was carried out with banners demanding release of Pashtuns from the captivity of Pakistan and extended support to Chaman protest. Apart from that they also put forward three demands:

1. International Truth and Reconciliation Committee (ITRC)
2. Sovereignty over their land, resources and culture
3. Right to self-determination

Furthermore, the voices for the release of PTM Sindh Coordinator Noorullah Tareen were also raised by the protestors. Tareen was arrested by the Sindh administration in October last year, after he proactively supported the Afghan civilians and provided every sort of assistance to them on behalf of its organisation.

When he was arrested, Pakistan was coercively deporting the Afghan refugees. They were selectively targeted, extorted and tortured in jails.Currently, there have been more than five months that Noorullah Tareen has been incarcerated. Reportedly, he has been facing torture and extreme brutality. Therefore, the Geneva protest highlights that PTM is not only fighting Pakistani establishment’s atrocities but challenging their authoritarian regime both in and outside the country.

After Pakistan attacked the border areas of Afghanistan, Afghan Taliban has carried out retaliatory airstrikes instigating a new version of clashes between the terror sponsoring regimes of South Asia.

Afghanistan Taliban’s defence minister Mohammad Yaqoob has confirmed that they targeted Pakistan Army’s installation in the border area. Reportedly, Afghanistan bombarded border village of Burkai in Upper Khurram with mortar shells. However, there were no casualties but only shops and other buildings.

Afghanistan’s bombardment comes as a retaliation against Pakistan’s airstrike which Islamabad claimed to have been conducted targeting TTP terrorist Abdullah Shah. The attack led to the killings of 6 civilians with 3 women and 3 children in Paktika province, a house was also destroyed. Along with that, two other women were also killed in Khost province.

As claimed by Afghanistan Taliban and TTP, the Pakistan Army’s target Abdullah Shah is safe and is not present in Afghanistan but across the border in Pakistan. To that extent, TTP has also released a video verifying the above claims.

Airstrikes: Escalation of conflict

The incident has ignited friction between the two terror sponsoring countries. Taliban has in its official statement has warned Pakistan against attacking its territory. It stated that Afghanistan has a history of fighting superpowers and further attack on its territory could lead to undesirable consequences for Pakistan.

Notably, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was once used by Pakistan as a tool for instigating terror in the neighbouring countries and was getting Afghanistan Taliban’s support in it. But the TTP turned hostile and claims itself as the legitimate sovereign of parts of Pakistan in border region. The hostility further increased after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, which provided safe haven to TTP against Pakistan. The dialogue between Pakistan and Afghan Taliban has become sour since then.

Consequently, the incident of clashes between TTP and Pakistan have increased. Now the exchange of attacks from either side have escalated the conflict to another level, where both the actors have engaged in violent attacks.

Larkana in Sindh has witnessed the worst and most torturous act of violence by the Pakistani establishment in the last two days. Yesterday, Sindh police broke into the Larkana protest and beat the peaceful protestors before arresting many of them. Later, some of them were released, including their leader Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar.

The daughters of Sindhi nationalist and teacher, Hidayat Lohar – Sasui and Sorath Lohar – have been protesting in Larkana over his brutal killing at the hands of the Pakistani establishment while he was enroute to his school. The police resorted to violence against peaceful protestors and arrested many of them, including Sasui and Sorath. The viral video from the time of the attack shows Sasui Lohar clamouring in anger as the police brutalized her fellow protestors.

Surprisingly, it has over a month since these protestors are on the road and in the meantine the entire political system in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, has only been on a rampage mode for elections, wins and losses, formation of government, and “quid pro quo” political dealings. The voice and aspirations of the people remains completely absent from the political discourse, highlighting the absolute ignorance and authoritarianism of the Pakistani establishment.

Now, after months the political ecosystem got over with the electoral mismanagement and manipulation and the new puppet on the name of government has been installed by Pakistan Army. And finally it took cognizance of the matter, by abruptly ordering a violent crackdown, knowing the fact that the protest was peaceful.

Although the daughters of Hidayat Lohar have been released, there are a number of others who still find themselves incarcerated for raising their righteous and justice-seeking voices.

Brutal killing of Hidayat Lohar

Hidayat Lohar was a teacher and Sindhi nationalist who was also the leader of Voice of Missing Persons of Sindh (VMPS), an organization dedicated to streamlining the cases of enforced disappearances of Sindhis at the hands of the Pakistani establishment and subsequently raising the voice for their release. Notably, Hidayat Lohar was himself a victim of enforced disappearance as he was abducted by the Pakistan Army on April 17, 2017, before finally being released in July 2019.

On 16 February, when Hidayat was on his way to the school two assailants, riding on a motorcycle, riddled his body with bullets, leading to his death. The incident sparked massive condemnation from across Pakistan and started a protest under the banner of VMPS led by the brave daughters of Hidayat Lohar, Sasui Lohar, and Sorath Lohar.