UMERKOT: The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) has expressed its serious concern over unbridled influence and activities of religious extremists in Sindh and the provincial government’s helplessness in containing the volatile situation.

In a press release issued here on Saturday, the forum demanded immediate imposition of Section 144 in Umerkot where, it observed, extremist groups were constantly delivering hate speeches against minorities, besides issuing death threats to journalists, civil society activists and other people who were raising their voice against the recent extrajudicial killing of Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar, a blasphemy suspect.

The WAF believed that Dr Kunbhar was falsely accused of blasphemy, and condemned that he was arrested amid a violent reaction in Umerkot from extremist elements over his supposed social media posts and then shot dead by police in Mirpurkhas in a staged encounter.

The forum noted that Dr Kunbhar’s family had lodged an FIR against those policemen who committed the extrajudicial killing, along with the Mirpurkhas DIG and SSPs of Umerkot. It demanded action against all these suspects according to law for being responsible for the custodial killing.

WAF urges Sindh govt to rein-in extremists, ensure safety of journalists, rights activists

The forum also demanded appropriate action against a cleric, nominated in the FIR for placing a bounty on Dr Kunbhar’s head, as well as all those involved in the burning of the doctor’s body before its burial.

The WAF pointed out that following the extremists’ reaction, staged encounter and burning of the doctor’s body, leaders and activists of various Sindh-based progressive and human rights organisations kept visiting bereaved family’s village to express their solidarity with the heirs. However, it condemned, extremist elements resorted to issuing death threats to sympathisers of the family, particularly targeting those who were raising their voice against the custodial murder and desecration of Dr Kunbhar’s body.

It noted that the situation had created communal tension in Umerkot and Mirpurkhas districts but the provincial government and police failed to check extremists’ activities and apprehend the suspects named in the bereaved family’s FIR.

The forum claimed that Sindh government’s inaction emboldened extremist groups which held rallies, press conferences and public gatherings in Umerkot and their leaders delivered hate speeches, specifically targeting the local Hindu community. “Threats were issued to seize their businesses and properties,” it further claimed.

The forum cautioned: “In such a volatile environment, permitting any gathering of extremists may further endanger local communities, particularly minorities”.

In order to prevent further unrest, the Sindh government should immediately impose Section 144 in Umerkot and Mirpurkhas; ensure arrest of all those named in the FIR of Dr Kunbhar’s murder; set up a judicial commission comprising high court judges on the entire episode; ensure security of Dr Kunbhar’s family members, human rights workers and journalists; and take legal action against those who made hate speeches and displayed sophisticated weapons at extremists’ rally in Umerkot.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2024