HYDERABAD: Civil society activists at a meeting with the son of a UC chairman — who along with his two other sons was gunned down in an attack on his house on Jan 17 — extended their support for a campaign to seek justice for the bereaved family.

Punhal Sario, Dr Ashothama Lohano, Haseen Musarrat Shah, Advocate Sattar Sarki and other activists met deceased Raees Karamullah Chandio’s son, Sada Hussain, at a hotel here on Friday.

Raees Karamullah Chandio was the chairman of US Baldai of Mehar taluka in Dadu district. He and his two sons, Mukhtiar and Qabil, were gunned down in an attack on their house in the Ahmed Colony area of Mehar taluka.

The bereaved family claims that the attack was carried out at the behest of MPA Sardar Ahmed Chandio, the chieftain of Chandio tribe in Mehar taluka.

They demand arrest of the MPA and six other suspects, some being his family members, but none of them had so far been arrested despite being named in the FIR of the incident.

Sada Hussain told the activists that the bereaved family, the Tumandar Council — formerly headed by the deceased UC chairman — and the Chandio tribesmen who had always remained on the side of his father intended to launch a vigorous campaign for the arrest of the suspects.

He informed them that “under a conspiracy, attempts are being made to remove sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) from the FIR and clear the name of the prime suspect”, adding that all such attempts would be resisted during the campaign.

He said that Sardar Ahmed Chandio was “mischievously” trying to give the tragedy the colour of a tribal feud. Police were not arresting the suspects despite the fact that evidence was also provided against two of them, Murtaza and Zulfiqar, who were staying at the house of Sardar Chandio.

The activists pledged to organise the protests across Sindh and hold meetings with representatives of different media houses in this regard. They called for the setting up of a joint investigation team (JIT) to look into the whole episode.

Raees Chandio’s other close relatives, Abdul Jabbar (son of Ali Sher Chandio) and Mansoor (son of Yaqoob Chandio) rejected Sardar Chandio’s assertion that the three Chandios [UC chairman and his two sons] were killed in retaliation to the murders of Ali Sher Chandio and Yaqoob Chandio several years ago which were blamed on Sada Hussain Chandio’s family.

They said they had no enmity with Sada Hussain Chandio.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2018