SUKKUR: Thousands of citizens, including activists of nationalist parties, social and rights organisations and traders took out a ‘peace procession’ and staged a sit-in at Ghantaghar Chowk in Kandhkot town on the second consecutive day on Saturday in protest against police’s failure to recover all hostages, including members of Hindu community, and restore law and order to crime-infested Kandhkot-Kashmore district.

The traders and shopkeepers kept their businesses and shops shuttered on a call for protest given by Hindu Panchayat again abduction of Mukhi Jagdish Kumar, Jaideep Kumar, Hindu Sagar Kumar, Ms Guddo, Dr Muneer Naich and several other hostages kidnapped in different areas of the district.

The protesters’ leaders Dr Mehr Chand, Harish Kumar, advocate Abdul Ghani Bijarani, Hafiz Nasrullah Chana and others demanded massive army operation against dacoits’ rule in the district. Local sardars were patronisers, harbourers and facilitators of criminals, who had made their life miserable, they said.

They said that Hindu businessmen, including their children, had been kidnapped I many instances. In fact, no citizen was safe now in the district. Now, public places such as roads, markets, localities and even villages were not safe and people and their properties were at the mercy of dacoits and outlaws, they said.

They said that even policemen were not safe. Dacoits often kidnapped law enforcers to force police to release their arrested associates and police bowed to the criminals within no time in order to save their colleagues, they said.

They said that dacoits uploaded Jagdish Kumar’s video on social media in which he could be seen being beaten up and his tormentors being heard demanding millions of rupees as ransom.

They added that such videos were a stain on the government’s human rights record and a challenge to the writ of the state. “We demand a massive army operation against the criminals and their patronizers, who have created a criminal state within a state,” they said.

Protest against girl’s abduction

Members of minority organisation, Pakistan Darawar Ittehad, and its supporters took out a procession from railway station to State Life building on Saturday in protest against police failure to recover teenage Hindu girl, a student of class seven, who was kidnapped about a month ago.

The Ittehad leaders Faqir Shevaji Kachhi, Alam Kolhi, Tagji Kolhi and others accused a number of suspects of being involved in 16-year-old Maryam Kolhi’s abduction.

They demanded the Sindh IGP and SSP of Mirpurkhas order registration of case the suspects and ensure the girl’s immediate release from their illegal confinement.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2023