MITHI: Several thousand people belonging to the Bheel community coming from various areas of Tharparkar district assembled outside the Sadiq Faqir Degree College in Mithi and marched up to the Fanario bus stop to hold a sit-in against demolition of their houses.

The protest was organised by a group calling itself the Bheel Intellectual Forum (BIF). Its leaders Sooro Mal Bheel, Advocate Lajpat Rai Soorani, Devji Bheel, Gomoo Bheel and others told local reporters that several hundred houses of their community members were demolished in the Malanhore Khanji area by police and revenue officials “at the behest of some influential figures” some two months back. Since then, they added, the affected families were holding protests and being assured of justice but nothing was being done to provide them shelter.

They said the entire community was expressing solidarity with the affected families. The protesters started their sit-in at about 11am and did not return home until 11pm, when Tharparkar SSP Sardar Hassan Niazi assured them that their issue would be resolved very soon.

During the course of the 12-hour protest, flow of vehicular traffic on roads leading to Badin, Mirpurkhas and other cities remained suspended.

The protesters recalled that during their previous protests, Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani and other leaders, as well as district and revenue officials, had assured them that they would be suitably compensated but no such things happened over the last two months.

They accused the elected representatives of Tharparkar of being responsible for the unending miseries.

They alleged that an MPA and some revenue officials posted in the DC office were hands in glove with their tormentors, backed by the DC and SSP of Tharparkar.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2020