ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights on Friday recommended equipping Sindh police with latest weaponry so that they could establish writ of the state in northern Sindh where the Sawand-Sundrani tribal feud was getting out of control.

A meeting of Senate Standing Committee was held here at Parliament House with Senator Walid Iqbal in the chair to deliberate on the point of public importance regarding the murder of Professor Ajmal Sawand in Kandhkot, Sindh.

Ajmal Sawand was working as assistant professor in the Computer Science Department of IBA Sukkur. He was murdered by Sundarani tribesmen in April, while returning from his village in Kandhkot-Kashmore to Sukkur.

Amid unanswered questions, after the murder it was conjectured that his killing may be the result of an ongoing feud sparked by an incident of honour killing between Sawand and the Sundrani tribes of Kandhkot. Others thought that the professor was killed by feudal lords of the area who were against education.

Says tribal feud in northern Sindh gets out of control

Irfan Ali Samo, SSP Kashmore, apprised the committee that Dr Ajmal Sawand’s murder was the result of an old enmity between Sawand and Sundrani tribes.

He further informed the committee that, since the matter was last taken up by the committee on June 7, 2023, when SSP Kashmore, had assured the members that the culprits would be apprehended “very soon”, the Sindh Police had made two further raids on the hideout of the culprits in Katcha forest area to arrest the accused Aijaz Ali Sundrani and his nine accomplices.

However, the raids were could not give any concrete result, as the police, even though using armored personnel carriers, was equipped with ordinary weapons, while the culprits attacked the police with rocket launchers, mortars and other sophisticated weaponry.

In addition, last time the matter was taken up, yet another member of the Sundrani tribe was killed by the Sawand tribe. The committee expressed its concern over the writ of the State not being enforced in the territory concerned.

The committee members unanimously recommended firstly that the Sindh government should equip its police with the latest weaponry. The members also recommended that all resources of the State should be availed to overcome and arrest the miscreants, including Pakistan Rangers and the armed forces, and thirdly, sincere attempts should be made to get the Sawand-Sundrani feud to be amicably resolved, to ensure that the blood-letting should come to an end.

The committee further recommended, unanimously, that the interior and defence ministries be also called to the meeting to take necessary action in this regard. The committee directed the Sindh police to submit a progress report within one month.

Published in Dawn, July 22th, 2023