April 02, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1429

HYDERABAD, April 1: He is tired but not shaken, he is frustrated with the system but has not lost all hope and his resolve only gets stronger by each passing day as he runs after an ever elusive justice and do whatever is in his power to get back his family kidnapped 10 years ago.

Mannu Bheel, who hit headlines in all the local and national dailies after Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice of his 1,287-day token hunger strike against the kidnappers of his family, says whenever the deposed chief justice is reinstated he will take up his case and ensure recovery of his family.

“I will once again start observing hunger strike outside the Hyderabad press club or outside the high court but I am not going to give up,” Bheel told Dawn at the Hyderabad Press Club.

Bheel has not lost all hope and is determined to pursue the case of kidnapping of his family members lodged at Jhuddo police station.

He often feels frustrated over police failure to go after the people who hold his family members in wrongful confinement. “I am not going to lose heart because of this either,” he remarks.

He firmly believes Abdul Rehman Mari, an influential landlord who is languishing in central jail on charges of kidnapping Bheel’s family members, knows the whereabouts of his family kidnapped in May 1998.

Even threats to his life fail to stop his chase after the people responsible for keeping him away from his family for over a decade. He claimed the recovery of two young girls who the police claimed were his daughters was a ploy set about to trap him.

He said he had told the police officer so and even managed to obtain an undertaking that he (police officer) would accompany him to see the girls. “I also called for presence of some other aged people with me before the girls were called. When they came I asked them to identify who was their father and they said that they don’t identify any of them as their parent,” he said.

Bheel, who is jobless, is currently living in Sikandarabad hari camp located on a piece of government land in Kotri taluka of Jamshoro district.

The camp, established in 2000 by the Special Task Force (STF) of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, provides refuge to peasants released from private jails or agricultural lands of feudal lords in the province.

He is backed financially by his relatives because he says that he is not supposed to move around alone for fear of life. He said he had staged a token hunger strike for 1,287 days, which began on Jan 19, 2003 and terminated on Dec 21, 2005 after he started receiving threats again.

“I was recently picked up by Kotri SP for interrogation but when the news about my detention was reported in media he had to let me go,” he said.

Bheel’s family members, Kheera Bheel (father), Akho (mother), Jala (brother), Mota (wife), Moomal and Dheli (daughters), Chamman and Kanji (sons) and Kirta (guest) were kidnapped on May 2, 1998 allegedly by the henchmen of Abdur Rehman Mari when they were working on the lands of Waryam Memon. Jhuddo police lodged a case on the complaint of Bheel’s relative, Ms. Dharmi. Bheel said that Jumo Bheel and another man who were arrested by police under 164 Cr.PC had confessed to keeping in detention till 2004 seven members of his family at the instance of Abdul Rehman Mari.

“I remember Chief Justice (deposed) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had assured me during my four meetings with him that, if I am making a correct statement then he will ensure that my family members are recovered by police,” he said.

He said that he had told the judge that he was ready to wager even his life that Mari had his family. Then, the deposed CJP ordered the then DPO of Sanghar that he wanted bodies of hostages, if they were dead by then.

Abdul Rehman Mari’s bail application, filed on health grounds, was rejected by Sindh High Court. He was arrested on the orders of deposed CJP following cancellation of the pre-arrest bail by the Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court. However, there has been no significant progress on the case since then.Former DIG of Mirpurkhas Salimullah Khan who was ordered by the then CJP to conduct inquiry to the Bheel’s case was handed suspension orders before he could complete the probe.

After suspension the DIG was arrested in a house trespass case. The court cleared granted him bail and then cleared him of charges. The police official is now awaiting reposting.

The STF headed by late Shakeel Pathan had facilitated release of 71 peasants including 15 members of Mannu Bheel’s family in March 1996.

Late Pathan was then the sole voice for the bonded peasants’ rights.