'Sindh facing worst human rights violations'

Sindh has been experiencing the worst human rights violations, claimed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Haleem Adil Sheikh on Wednesday. The Sindh Assembly parliamentarian alleged that the provincial government formed the Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) to safeguards the rights of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 2011 with an annual budget of millions of rupees.

Sheikh made these claims on Wednesday as he appeared before the SHRC with his team of lawyers, led by advocate Shahid Soomro. The SHRC had taken suo motu notice of a human rights violation accusation against Sheikh, allegedly committed in 2019 during elections in Ghotki.

The PTI lawmaker denied the allegations levelled against him, and said he appeared before the SHRC because the commission had been serving him notices every month.

According to Sheikh, the PPP-led Sindh government was involved in irregularities and rigging in Ghotki during elections in 2019, and when he visited Ghotki, an FIR was lodged against him. He said he was served five notices in a day.

"When Shahbaz Sharif [of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz] said that he would hang his opponents from an electricity pole, no one took notice," claimed the lawmaker, adding that people belonging to the PPP are in the commission and they aim to suppress the voice of their political opponents. Notices were served to him for the same purpose, he maintained.

Sheikh further gave the examples of another MPA who, he claimed, told the people of Qambar-Shahdadkot to ‘fix their minds,’ and the speaker of Sindh Assembly who, according to Sheikh, once said ‘he urinates on the votes of people’. But the commission remained silent, said Sheikh.

“From Ratodero to Hyderabad people were suffering with AIDS while more than 124,000 people were bitten by stray dogs, but the SHRC did not take any action,” claimed Sheikh. According to the PTI leader, the commission had not taken notices of either of these issues.

"Human rights violations take place in Sindh but the commission is tight-lipped," he said. "Thousands of families affected by rains and floods are left homeless, children and women are being raped, minors are working in factories for Rs2,000 per month, but no one takes any action."

The lawmaker asked why the SHRC had not taken notice of dead bodies being transported on donkey carts in Sindh or why ambulance services were absent in the province.

He further said that employees protesting for their rights were subjected to police brutality, female students were molested in universities, but the commission remained silent.

The PTI lawmaker assured PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of cooperation if the latter initiates a campaign for the rights of the people of Sindh. Sheikh urged Bilawal to initiate protests against the supply of drinking water mixed with sewage, unavailability of ambulances to shift bodies, displaced families living on roads, and corruption in the Sindh government’s departments.

Meanwhile, his lawyer, advocate Soomro maintained that following the Supreme Court orders, no judge could take a suo motu action, and they would challenge it in the court.