HYDERABAD, Sept 14: Mai Jindo of Tando Bahawal, whose two sons and a son-in-law were killed by security forces along with seven other villagers in 1992 and whose two daughters committed self-immolation in protest against delay in dispensation of justice in the case , has threatened to immolate herself if her demands are not accepted in two days.
She was talking to journalists outside the local press club where she was on a token hunger strike for acceptance of her demands, which included death sentence to civilian perpetrators of the carnage and allotment of land to her on the KB Feeder.
Two woman ASIs had been deputed outside the press club to keep an eye on Mai Jindo. It may be recalled here that in June 1992, a contingent of security forces, led by Major Arshad Jameel, had raided the Tando Bahawal village on the outskirts of Hyderabad, kidnapped nine villagers and later shot them dead on the bank of the River Indus.
They victims were portrayed as dacoits. However, the press exposed the event and as a result, Major Jameel and over one dozen Jawans and civilians involved were arrested. The personnel of security forces were tried by military court and a separate charge-sheet in the case of the civilian accused was submitted in the Anti-Terrorism Court.
As the cases proceeded at a snail's pace, two daughters of Mai Jindo, Hakimzadi and Zaibun Nisa, committed self-immolation outside the Anti-Terrorism Court on Sept 11, 1996, a public holiday.
Major Jameel was awarded death sentence by the military court, which was carried out on Oct 28, 1996, and the Jawans were sentenced to life imprisonment. However, none of the civilian accused has been hanged and according to Mai Jindo, two of them have been released.
Following the incident, the Sindh government had allotted 24 acres of land to each bereaved family in the Thatta district. Mai Jindo told the journalists that the land allotted to the families was barren.
ELECTIONS: Mian Touqeer Tariq was elected the chairman of the Kotri Association of Trade and Industry at the annual elections of the association held on Monday.