Free at last: JSMM leader returns after 13 months

HYDERABAD: A Sindhi nationalist leader, who was allegedly picked up by intelligence agencies over 13 months ago, returned home on Tuesday night. Bhatti, the district president of Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM), was picked up in July 2011 from Hussainabad area of Hyderabad. He complained of hearing and eye-sight problems and losing consciousness. “I was kept in solitary confinement in a dark room and even denied the sight of day light.” This was in addition to physical torture he claims he suffered whenever quizzed about his links with the anti-state elements. The JSMM has been considered responsible for the explosions at the railway tracks and power pylons and attacks at branches of National Bank of Pakistan in several districts, despite the fact that Sindhu Desh Liberation Army claimed responsibility.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2012.