SUKKUR: Large crowds of people staged processions and rallies in crime-infested districts of Ghotki, Jacobabad and Kandhkot-Kashmore on Monday in protest against police failure to rein in highwaymen and dacoits and controlling rising incidents of kidnapping for ransom, robberies and thefts.

In Ghotki district, members and supporters of Hindu Panchayat took out a procession and staged a demonstration in Khanpur Mahar in protest against police failure to recover a Hindu trader Retak Kumar kidnapped a month ago from Mirpur Mathelo.

The protesters said that police had failed to control rising crimes of kidnapping, murder and looting. The criminals committed crimes at their whim without any fear of police, they said.

They said that police and Sindh government had become helpless before the bandits.

The members of Hindu community were a soft target for the outlaws and they could not run their businesses, they said.

In Jacobabad,Anjuman Taji­ran, Hindu Panchayat and others trade bodies shuttered down mobile market and staged a demonstration on Quaid-i-Azam Road in protest against police.

The demonstrators said that no citizen, particularly business community, was safe and demanded peace should be restored to the district.

In Kandhkot, a large number of Suhriyani clansmen and their supporters pitched tents on Shikarpur Road in Kandhkot and staged a demonstration, demanding safe recovery of Ali Bahar Suhriyani, his young son Shaman Ali and young nephew Zeeshan Ali kidnaped a couple of days ago in Kandhkot.

The protesters said that police were nowhere to be seen to protect citizens from dacoits and outlaws who kidnapped people freely and demanded hefty amounts as ransom for their freedom.

The demonstrators continued the protest for 11 hours and called off the agitation after police officials sought two days for the recovery of the hostages.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2024