Manu Bheel has not seen his family members for over nine years and misses them dearly.

Until two years back, Manu Bheel was a pessimist, comtemplating suicide in despair that he would ever see his nine kidnapped family members again. However, the re-instatement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry rekindled hope by taking suo motu notice of his case which is now in the apex court.

Bheel has not seen his family members for over nine years and misses them dearly. He is grateful to the media for their support. Gaining confidence after help from the apex court, he frequently speaks to the foreign media as well. Apparently frustrated by constant failure on part of the police to recover the criminals involved, he believes it is not over yet. According to him, Abdul Rehman Mari, the prime suspect in the case, languishing in central jail Hyderabad, avoids disclosing the whereabouts of his family members.

“Mari in fact refuses to admit that his kith and kin are with him as the two of them have reportedly died by either being beaten up or due to delayed medication,” said Bheel, who was at the Sikandarabad Hari camp in district Jamshoro.

He fears for his life because Mari’s henchmen keep chasing him whenever he moves out of the camp. Normally he is accompanied by seven or eight of his relatives. He doesn’t work because of the threat to his life but receives financial support from his family in addition to some help from an NGO.

Sikandarabad located in Kotri taluka of the Jamshoro district, is a revenue land where a hari camp was setup in 2000. Bonded haris, liberated by the Special Task Force (STF) Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) were brought here by the HRCP. Around 500 members of Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities live here in huts made of thatched straw, with no infrastructure,. On one occasion, the district administration Dadu even tried to evict them, but the idea was later shelved.

Manu Bheel began a token hunger strike on Jan 19, 2004, which completed 1,000 days on October 8, 2005, but later abandoned it. “The Maris used to menacingly stare at the hunger strike camp and the police wouldn’t do anything,” he said. He was even picked-up along with 13 others by the then SP investigation Hyderabad, Pir Fareed Jan Sarhandi, who threatened him to withdraw the case. “I was severely beaten up to testify that the case was false,” he said.

It was in March 1996 when the HRCP’s Special Task Force (STF) for Sindh, then headed by the late Shakeel Pathan as coordinator, facilitated the release of 71 haris, including 15 members of Manu Bheel’s family through the district magistrate, Sanghar. An application was submitted by a hari, Krishan Bheel, to the district administration, April 5, 1996. They were shifted to the liberated haris’ camp in Matli first and then moved to Mithi – their native land.

The late Pathan, in the mid-90s, had struggled for the liberation of bonded haris. However, his untimely death in September 1998 in a road accident whilst he was returning from Umerkot was a setback to the struggle. His wife Nasreen Shakeel Pathan, who later became STF coordinator, was shown the door by HRCP stalwarts unceremoniously in August last year.

Bheel’s nine family members, including Khera Bheel (father), Akho (mother), Jalal (brother), Mota (wife), Momal and Dheli (daughters), Chamman and Kanji (sons) and Kirta (guest) were kidnapped on May 2,1998 in the area of the Jhuddo police station when they were working on the land of Waryam Memon.

According to Bheel, two persons, Jumo Bheel and another one were arrested by police, who have recorded their 164 Cr. PC statement before the court that it was in 2004 when seven members of his family were confined by them on the orders of Abdul Rehman Mari. “After I was told about these statements, I obtained copies and sent them to the people concerned,” he said.

DIG Mirpurkhas, Salimullah Khan, who was entrusted with the inquiry into the case by the CJ was suspended with the inquiry still incomplete. He was arrested from Islamabad and had to seek bail from the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad, in a house trespass case, lodged with the Khipro police.

Abdul Rehman Mari, is behind bars and his bail application, filed on health grounds, has been recently rejected by the Sindh High Court after he was arrested complying with the orders of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Manu Bheel continues to coordinate with the police investigation team for the recovery of his family members. The apex court has recently expressed its displeasure over progress in the matter and has asked PPO Sindh to appear in person before the court. The police have so far not been able to recover any of the nine members of Bheel’s family.