KARACHI: Chairperson of the Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) retired Justice Majida Rizvi called on Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah at Sindh Secretariat on Thursday and presented to him the annual report of the commission for 2019-20.

In the meeting, the chairperson briefed the chief secretary on the performance of the SHRC. Referring to the report, she said that 728 complaints of human rights violations were received in 2019-20 pertaining to honour killings, kidnappings, domestic violence, harassment and forced marriages.

She added that 195 complaints had been received from Karachi, 43 from Hyderabad, 39 from Badin, 47 from Dadu, 20 from Ghotki, 14 from Jacobabad, 28 from Jamshoro, 7 from Kashmore, 13 from Khairpur, 11 from Larkana, 8 from Matiari and 57 from Mirpurkhas, 14 from Naushahro Feroze, 21 from Qambar-Shahdadkot, 7 from Sanghar, 8 from Shikarpur, 12 from Shaheed Benazirabad, 16 from Sujawal, 10 from Sukkur, 23 from Tando Allahyar, 44 from Tando Mohammad Khan, 45 from Tharparkar, 19 from Thatta and 27 from Umerkot.

She added that the commission, with the help of police and district administration, acted on the complaints in a timely manner and provided assistance to the victims in getting justice. She said the SHRC had also opened an office in Sukkur and launched a website for public awareness.

The Sindh chief secretary appreciated the performance of the SHRC and said that it should run an awareness campaign on the rights of women and children in the province. He further said that the Sindh government would provide all possible facilities to the commission to ensure protection of human rights.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021