SUKKUR: Activists of political and religious parties, civil society and members of general public gathered outside SSP office in Kandhkot on Thursday and staged a protest against police failure to recover 21 hostages kidnapped from different areas of the district.

They said that police had utterly failed to restore law and order in the district, leaving the citizens at the mercy of outlaws who had challenged the writ of the government as they carried out their criminal activities unabated without a shred of fear.

Talking to media persons, Ghulam Mustafa and others of Sindh Mallah Forum, which had organised the protest, Jamaat-i-Islami provincial leader Hafiz Nasarullah Channa, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s Molvi Mohammad Ibrahim Khaki, Sindh United Party leader Zareef Sagar Bijarani, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Abdul Azziz Soomro, Mir Faiq Ali Jakhrani of Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen, and Maulana Jaffar of Shia Ulema Council demanded immediate recovery of all the kidnapped persons.

They demanded immediate recovery of Ghulam Rasool Meerani, who was kidnapped in the jurisdiction of Bakhshapur police station 45 days ago, and other missing persons including Singhar Malik abducted from Kandhkot-Kashmore.

They urged the government to restore rule of law in the district and take stringent measures against criminals and dacoits who robbed people of their valuables and kidnapped them at gunpoint without any fear.

They said that police had utterly failed to restore law and order in the district and left the citizens at the mercy of outlaws, who had challenged the writ of the government.

The hostages’ relatives said that police did nothing to search for their loved ones but just kept fooling them by raising their hopes. They said that police were deliberately not taking action against the outlaws because abduction for ransom was a lucrative business. They demanded the government take notice of 21 kidnapped persons, including Ghulam Rasool and Singhar Malik. Later, DSP Syed Asghar Ali Shah negotiated with the protesters and persuaded them to end the protest on the promise that police would release all the hostages from the clutches of kidnappers.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2022