Hunger strike staged against crime, exploitation

HYDERABAD:

Jeay Sindh Rehbar Committee concluded its 24-hour hunger strike staged simultaneously in several districts of Sindh on Sunday.

The hunger strike was a protest against lawlessness, settlement of non-Sindhis in the province, economic exploitation of native people, corruption, kidnappings and crimes of bandits. Speaking to the media in Hyderabad the committee's convener Riaz Ali Chandio said the state of law and order is the worst in Sindh in the whole federation.

He referred to the alleged free-hand which has been given to the dacoits to kidnap, kill and rob the people and the tribal clashes which are claiming lives with impunity to corroborate his assertion. "The other day a young man of Sawand tribe was killed by men of Sundrani tribe. The killers later took away the victim's dead body and returned it only after extorting ransom from his family," he lamented, saying the province is plumbing the depths of lawlessness.

He controverted the government's claim that dense forests made the cleansing operation against dacoits difficult. Chandio maintained that the huge forests no longer existed in Sindh and that the government's excuse is actually meant to allow the bandits to continue their crimes. "The fact of the carte blanche given to the dacoits is starting us all in the face but the government is as expected in the denial mode."

He said the misery for the people of Sindh is not limited to the crimes but the people are suffering from abject poverty, hunger, exploitation, denial of jobs and the unabated settlement of the outsiders. Chandio blamed the politicians and bureaucracy of Punjab for controlling and exploiting the resources of Sindh which is even denied its share of water.

He blamed the establishment for installing allegedly corrupt Pakistan Peoples Party for a fourth consecutive tenure in Sindh so that the plunder of the resources and exploitation of the people can go on. The committee's convener reiterated opposition of the nationalist leaders to allotting agricultural land to foreign companies for corporate farming.

The committee demanded an end to the practice of subjecting the nationalist workers to enforced disappearance. It was claimed that the workers are also being booked in fake cases by the law enforcement agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2024.