• No response from CS, IGP is highly regrettable, says panel chairman
• Sindh minister Chawla intervenes to defuse situation; meeting rescheduled for today

KARACHI: The meeting of Minority Caucus — a bipartisan legislative forum established to safeguard the constitutional rights of non-Muslim communities — descended into turmoil on Wednesday after the Sindh chief secretary and the inspector general of police failed to appear for a crucial briefing, prompting members of the caucus to boycott the session before it was deferred till Thursday (today), on the request of a provincial cabinet member.

Officials said that the meeting of the Minority Caucus was scheduled on Wednesday at the Sindh chief secretary’s office to discuss multiple agenda items including a briefing on the stalled investigation into the 2021 Priya Kumari disappearance case. However, it met with a shock when the body chairperson Senator Danesh Kumar and other members found that the senior officials who were supposed to brief the panel were absent.

The members waited for both the Sindh IGP and the chief secretary for a long time, but they did not turn up despite the agenda items had been circulated among the members of the panel and the concerned officials more than a week before Wednesday’s meeting.

“It was so unfortunate that despite such important agenda, both [Sindh] IG and chief secretary didn’t bother to attend the meeting,” Senator Danesh Kumar told Dawn.

“All members of our panel were there. Even we had invited minority members of the Sindh Assembly as special invitees to the meeting and they were also there. It’s highly regrettable that there was no response from the top officials,” he said.

He said the agenda tabled for discussion with the officials was of great importance, particularly the case of Priya Kumari, which has remained under global scrutiny and continues to put the country’s reputation at stake.

Priya Kumari went missing in August 2021 when she was serving free cold drinks at a Sabeel on Ashura in Sangrar, a small town near Sukkur.

The situation left the members of the caucus infuriated, prompting them to boycott the meeting and make arrangements to leave for Islamabad.

However, the Sindh government intervened before they departed. Senator Kumar said that the members had decided to leave and move a privilege motion “against such attitude of Sindh officials” in the Senate when Sindh Minister for Excise and Taxation Mukesh Chawla stepped in.

“He [Mr Chawla] has assured us that all the officials concerned will be present on Thursday [today] with the necessary updates and required briefing. We have, therefore, deferred the proceedings until Thursday and will take up all the agenda items again,” Senator Kumar added.

The meeting, which was originally scheduled for July 1 and 2, is expected to take up the revised agenda today.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2026