KARACHI, Dec 10: Various leaders of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz on Sunday staged a token hunger strike in front of the Karachi Press Club to protest against the disappearance of a number of leaders and workers of various nationalist parties and groups of Sindh and Balochistan.

Chief organizer of the JSQM (Karachi) Illahi Bux Bikak was among dozens of people who attended the token hunger strike.

Participants of the strike were demanding that the Chief Justice of Pakistan get all the disappeared political activists released who included Dr Safdar Sarki, JSQM secretary-general, Akash Malah, Asif Baladi etc.

He said the whereabouts of various nationalist cadres were not known for more than a year. They accused the police and sensitive agencies of arresting Dr Sarki from his flat in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on February 24 and many people of the area were witness to the incident.

“The arresters subjected Dr Safdar Sarki to severe torture outside his flat to get his neighbours frightened so that they remain tightlipped on this illegal act,” a press statement handed by the JSQM spokesman to the media said.

“We don’t know whether Dr Sarki is alive or not because the agencies of our country have already tortured and killed one of our leaders, Samiullah Kalhoro,” said the statement.

It said December 10 was the International Day of Human Rights but it had no worth in Pakistan and in fact human rights were openly violated in Pakistan.

“Our agencies and police treat our people even worse than animals and we appeal to the global rights groups to play their role to stop terrorism perpetrated by the state agencies of Pakistan and get all the political workers and leaders released,” it demanded.