HYDERABAD: After an hours-long struggle with activists of various nationalist parties, police managed to take custody of the body of a Moro violence victim and transported it to his native village on Friday.

The victim, Irfan Leghari, was among many activists who were wounded in the violent incidents in Moro town of Naushahro Feroze district on May 20.

The violence had erupted when police used force to disperse participants of a rally reportedly organised by the Sindhian National Congress (SNC), established only a few weeks back. The rally was held to oppose federal government’s six strategic canals and corporate farming plans.

One activist, Zahid Leghari, was killed and Irfan Leghari, along with many others, was wounded in the shooting that broke out during the police action. Sindh Law Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar’s residence was torched during the episode and an unspecified number of rally participants were rounded up afterwards.

Irfan Leghari was first rushed to a major government hospital in Nawabshah for emergency treatment and then shifted to the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) in Hyderabad due to his precarious condition. He was under treatment in LUH’s neurosurgery war and kept in its ICU, where he died on Friday.

A large number of activists of various nationalist parties, besides those of the SNC, had gathered outside the LUH as soon as they came to know about Leghari’s death.

According to the police, the activists intended to take the body to somewhere on highway and block it by holding demonstration. It was feared that this might create a serious law and order situation.

In order to prevent SNC leaders from taking away Irfan Leghari’s body, the police remained deployed at and around the LUH and its mortuary. They baton charged the activists with regular intervals in order to keep them away from the mortuary.

The activists posed stiff resistance and foiled their first attempt to take away the coffin. However, the police call out reinforcement and managed to bring out the coffin from the mortuary and place it in an ambulance, which sped away to safely reach Moro.

According to MLO Dr Imran Khowaja, Irfan had received two bullet injuries, one near is right cheek in the temporal region which was stuck near brain; and the other in his lower left knee region.

Police surgeon’s argument

“We handed over the body to the police as per our legal practice … we receive a body from police and are supposed to hand it over to the police officials concerned; in this [Irfan Leghari’s] case, the body was handed over to the Market police,” said police surgeon Dr Wasim.

When nationalist parties’ activists and lawyers tried to reason with police, several of them were rounded up. They included Fatah Channa, Mohib Azad, Sooriyah Sindhi, Sheeraz Mir, Rahul Choliani, Kashish Khawaja and others. They were later released near Hatri Bypass.

Abdul Fatah Channa told the media: “We wanted to receive Irfan’s body but were not obliged. Instead, we and several other activists were detained by police. The police freed us near Hatri bypass after several hours”.

Protesting against all the police actions, the activists held a sit-in at Hyderabad Bypass near Wadhu Wah gate. The sit-in was continuing till late in the evening.

Sarang Joyo, SNC’s deputy chief organiser and eminent writer Taj Joyo’s son, was leading the sit-in.

He told the media that althrough Mohib, Channa, Sindhi and others were freed, many more were still in police custody and their whereabouts were not known.

Sarang said he was not sure about Irfan Leghari’s political affiliation.

‘Heirs refuse to receive body from police’

Reports from Irfan’s native village, Leghari Bijarani, claimed that the police escorting the ambulance carrying the body reached the village, where several hundred women had already gathered.

The women members of Irfan’s family refused to receive the body from police, saying that their many male family members were brutally murdered and more were arrested. Therefore, they (police) should bury the body by themselves, the protesting women said. They demanded release of all their family members and relatives.

According to Abdul Fatah Channa, a teenage son of deceased Irfan had also been in police custody since May 20.

QAT chief slams crackdown

Qaumi Awami Tehreek leader Ayaz Latif Palijo condemned arrest of the activists and lawyers and described the practice as “worst dictatorship”. He said the body was forcibly taken away by police which was utterly shameful. He said that dictatorship was being seen in Sindh in the name of democracy where peaceful protesters were being killed.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2025