BAJAUR: People staged a rally in the Khar area here on Saturday against the alleged custodial killing of a local resident in Khairpur district of the Sindh province.

Besides villagers and relatives of the deceased, Sultan Mohammad, political and social activists, youths and traders also attended the protest outside the press club building in large numbers.

They shouted slogans against the Sindh police and government for “not taking notice of the custodial killing” of the 43-year-old from Damadola village in Mamond tehsil.

The protesters claimed that the worker of a tailor’s shop was arrested by the Khairpur police along with others from their shops on July 16 over non-registration and was beaten to death in custody.

Residents demand action against Sindh police’s personnel

Religious scholar Maulana Khan Zeb, Syed Sadiq Akbar of the ANP, Malik Mohammad Asghar Khan of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, deceased’s relatives Amanullah and Inayatullah, and other speakers condemned the custodial killing of a local worker in Sindh and said the arrest of KP residents in the province despite having national identity cards was an unlawful and biased act on part of the local police.

They insisted that such cases were reported by Pakhtun transporters, traders and labourers as well.

The speakers demanded of Sindh authorities to ensure strict action against police personnel involved in that custodial killing and warned if that didn’t happen, Bajaur residents would hold a massive protest.

Also in the day, political, religious and trader leaders visited the house of the deceased in Damadola area and sympathised with his family.

The body reached the area from Khairpur at noon.

Meanwhile, the police carried out the “search and strike operation” for the second consecutive day on Saturday over Friday’s IED blast in Gillay area of Mamond tehsil here. Scores of police personnel took part in the action, according to a statement issued by the office of DPO Nazeer Khan.

It added that the DPO along with senior police officials visited the area to oversee the operation meant to trace the perpetrators of the Friday IED explosion, which killed three people in a vehicle.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2023