Three prominent social leaders were 'abducted' from their homes during late-night 'raids' in Mithi, Tharparkar on Monday, their family members said.

Educationalist and rights activist Partab Shivani, writer Naseer Kumbhar and Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) leader Mohammad Umer were picked up by law enforcement and police personnel last night, their families told the media on Tuesday.

According to the families of Shivani and Kumbhar, the two activists "had never been part of any nationalist or political party."

They added that Shivani and Kumbhar had only been working for the betterment of education and other social issues in the neglected desert region.

Tharparkar SSP Ameer Saud Magsi claimed to have no knowledge of the incident or any activity by state agencies when contacted by Dawn.

Yesterday's abductions are the most recent in a string of similar disappearances over the past few weeks.

On August 5, some family members of the self-exiled separatist leader of the banned Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, Shafi Burfat, were whisked away from their residence.

According to eyewitnesses, around a dozen men in police commando uniforms also picked up Punhal Sario, the leader of the recently formed Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh from Hyderabad on August, 3.

A number of demonstrations by civil society groups were taken out on August 4 from various cities in the province, such as Sukkur, Jacobabad, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Umerkot and Mithi to protest the rising incidence of forced disappearances, among them those of rights activists, journalists, writers.