Jeay Sindh Mahaz stages protests against ‘daku raj’

Says dacoits given leeway to justify an operation and annihilation of arable land

HYDERABAD:

The Jeay Sindh Mahaz held protests in 10 cities of Sindh on Sunday to condemn increasing sway of the robbers of riverbed and forest areas; migration of Hindus and kidnappings.

"Daku raj [rule of dacoits] has been thrust upon the people so that in the garb of an operation against the outlaws inhabiting the riverbed areas, the precious cultivable land of the province can be occupied," said JSM Chairman Riaz Ali Chandio at a protest outside Hyderabad Press Club.

He argued that the dacoits have been given leeway to harass the entire regions in Sukkur and Larkana divisions where business, agriculture and even education have been affected by the crimes. He referred to the recent killing of a school teacher Allah Rakhio Nandwani in Kashmore-Kandhkot district on March 18 and said the incident was aimed to frighten the teachers so that they stop going to schools.

Chandio believed that tactics like recording videos of kidnapped persons, who are often beaten or undressed in those videos, killings of innocent hostages and dumping of their bodies are all meant to instil fear among the people.

The JSM's leader lamented that the Hindu community is also being specifically targeted by the outlaws and a large number of Hindu families have started to migrate out of the country. He alleged that not only dacoits demand extortion from Hindu traders but also local leaders of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) do the same.

The protesters carried portraits of Priya Kumari, a child who was kidnapped from a village in Saleh Patt taluka of Sukkur district and blamed the government for its inaction to recover the child. The protesters demanded that the artificial dacoit rule in Sindh should be put to an end and the killing of Sukkur IBA's Prof Ajmal Sawand and of the school teachers Hidayat Lohar and Nandwani should be brought to book.

They also called for safe recovery of more than 100 persons including children who are at present held hostage by the dacoits. The protests took place in Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Matiari, Benazirabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Thatta, Larkana and Noushehro Feroze districts

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2024.