HYDERABAD: Heirs of the four villagers, who were killed in a joint raid by Rangers and police in the Mari Jalbani village of Sakrand on Sept 28, did not appear before the Sindh government’s inquiry committee on Sunday.

The committee was formed by caretaker Chief Minister Maqbool Baqar.

Ten inhabitants of Mari Jalbani and adjoining villages, however, appeared before the committee to seek a judicial probe into the matter.

Head of the committee Khalid Hyder Shah did not respond to Dawn‘s messages and calls, and so did other two committee members, DIG Special Branch Asif Aijaz Shaikh and DIG Shaheed Benazirabad Pervez Chandio.

The committee members sat in commissioner’office where the villagers appeared before them.

It was gathered that slain villagers’ heirs could not make it as they were busy in receiving mourners and condolences from people coming from different parts of the province.

The committee, however, recorded statements of CIA in-charge Maqsood Manganhar, SHOs of the police stations concerned including Rana Jamshed, Mujeebur Rehman Narejo and Ms Mariam.

Inhabitants of the Mari Jalbani, including Gul Jalbani, Rano Khan Jalbani, union council chairman Imran Jalbani, Benazirabad district council member Bagh Ali Jalbani and others met the committee members. “We call for holding of judicial probe into the incident because we believe villagers were innocent,” said Gul Jalbani while talking to Dawn from Sakrand.

According to him, he told the committee to get social status and personal profiles of slain villagers and conduct an open-ended inquiry.

“Other communities also live around Mari Jalbani village and they can be approached by them,” he said, adding that the committee was told that the victims were farm labourers. One of critically injured men, Mr Allahdad, who had lost two of his sons in the joint action, had been shifted to Karachi where he was supposed to undergo a major surgery.

Copy of state’s FIR not available

According to Syed Zain Shah, president Sindh United Party (SUP), notables of the villages did appear before inquiry committee as heirs were not in a position to meet committee members in Nawabshah. “Police have not provided us a copy of FIR lodged by Rangers against villagers,” he said.

He added that the court would have to be approached to seek a copy of the FIR to know what charges were levelled against the victims. In fact, he said, four members of the family were killed and five other members wounded in the action. “So, they are not in a position to appear before any inquiry committee and even otherwise the demand for a judicial probe into the incident is growing,” he said.

Protest in Hyderabad

Meanwhile, activists of Porhiyat Mazahamat Tehreek led by Masroor Shah, Nisar Leghari and Mehran Memon staged a protest demonstration in Hyderabad on Sunday to condemning the joint raid.

They said that action should be taken against those involved in the incident and speedy justice should be provided to the heirs. They said that there was no justification for paramilitary forces to harass people.

Sindh Peoples Students Federation (Shaheed Bhutto) also staged a separate demonstration against the action and demanded punishment to those involved in it. The protest was led by Irshad Khaskheli and Syed Hasnain Shah.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2023