July 24, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 08, 1428

HYDERABAD, July 23: Manu Bheel is disappointed but he sees a ray of hope in Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who has now assumed his office. He feels that eight members of his family would be recovered soon. He is desperate to attend the next hearing of his case before the apex court that is probably fixed in August.

Frustrated after experiencing constant failure of police to go after the people who are holding his family in wrongful confinement, he has still not lost hope. He believes that Abdul Rehman Mari, who is in jail for kidnapping his family, knows where they are being held.

“He (Mari) refuses to admit that his family is with him because two of them are reported to have died. There are reports that they died because they were either beaten or not provided medication when they needed it,” Bheel told Dawn in the Sikandarabad Hari Camp in Jamshoro on Sunday.

Bheel still fears for his life because he is chased by henchmen of Mari. He is constantly accompanied by seven or eight relatives to avert any threat to his life. He cannot work because of the constant threat. He is financially supported by his family in addition to some monetary help from an NGO. “I can’t go out of the camp because of the threat to my life”, he said.

Manu Bheel had to abandon a token hunger strike which lasted 1,287 days from Jan 19,2003 to Dec 21, 2005 for fear of his life. “Even police didn't provide me protection. The Maris used to stare at him at hunger striker's camp,” said Bheel.

The hari was even picked up by the then SP (investigation) Hyderabad Pir Fareed Jan Sarhandi, who threatened him to withdraw the case. “I was picked up along with 13 others by the SP. I was severely beaten up by the police, who tried to make me say that the case is false,” he recalled.

Bheel’s eight family members -— including Kheera Bheel (father), Akho (mother), Jala (brother), Mota (wife), Momal and Dheli (daughters), Chamman and Kanji (sons) and Kirta (guest) — were kidnapped on May 2, 1998 from the limits of the Jhuddo police station when they were working on lands of Waryam Memon. A case to this effect was lodged by Ms. Dharmi.

In March 1996, when the HRCP’s special task force for Sindh, headed by late Shakeel Pathan, had facilitated the release of 71-haris, including 15 members of Manu Bheel’s family, through the district magistrate, Sanghar. Action was taken on an application submitted by a hari, Krishan Bheel.

He remembered that during his previous four meetings, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had assured him that, “if you are making a correct statement then I will try that your family members are recovered by police”. Bheel stated that he had told the Chief Justice that he was ready to bet his life that hostages were with Mari. He also remembered how the Chief Justice had directed the then DPO Sanghar, Ajmal Magsi, that he wanted bodies of the hostages if they had died.

Then DIG of Mirpurkhas, Salimullah Khan, was suspended while an inquiry into recovery of Bheel’s family remained incomplete. The DIG was arrested from Islamabad and then he sought bail from Sindh High Court Hyderabad in a trespass case. Currently, he is not posted anywhere. Abdul Rehman Mari's bail application, filed on health grounds, has been recently rejected by the Sindh High Court after he was arrested under orders of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry following cancellation of his pre-arrest bail by Sindh High Court Hyderabad circuit bench.

Manu Bheel has vowed to fight to free his family until his death. “My youngest daughter, who was just a year-old when she was kidnapped, must be seven years old now,” said Bheel in a choked voice. “Even if I die, my brother, nephews and other family members will fight for them. It’s a question of eight people’s lives,” he said.