Police baton charge villagers protesting eviction in Umerkot

Four policemen suspended, three landlords booked

HYDERABAD: After a police baton charge left men and women protesting alleged eviction from their residence in an Umerkot village injured, four policemen were suspended for assaulting protesters and three landlords have been booked in an FIR. The incident took place on Sunday in Umerkot district where the residents of Fazal Chopanh village of Kolhi and Bheel communities, including women and children, gathered for a sit-in protest.

The protesters shouted slogans against the landlords and burnt tyres. The police tried to disperse the protesters but ended up engaging them in a clash during which a stone, allegedly thrown by one of the protesters, hit the wind screen of a police mobile van.

The police later reacted with baton charge and teargas shelling. One elderly woman, identified as Satu Bai, was struck in her head by a baton and fell unconscious with her head bleeding. Five of the protesters were detained and released later.

Hariyan Kolhi and Lala Bheel told the local media that they have been living for several decades on government land in Fazal Chopanh village. They claimed that some influential landlords have started to force them to vacate their homes and blamed the local police for siding with the landlords.

"Protest seemed to be our last recourse," said Bheel. The sit-in continued for over four hours until police officials assured the protesters that action would be taken against the landlords and the local policemen.

Meanwhile, after Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took notice of the incident, the Umerkot SSP suspended additional SHO PS Umerkot Panju Mal Bheel and three police constables. Dhoronaro police station also lodged an FIR on the complaint of Hariyan Kolhi nominating Allahdad Chopanh, Shahnawaz Chopanh and Haji Jesar Chopanh for harassment and expulsion from residence. She claimed there are hundreds of homes of the Kolhi and Bheel community in that village. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2019.