Seeking justice: With corpse desecraters at large, protests continue

Protesters marched from Mirpurkhas to Hyderabad.

HYDERABAD: With corpse desecraters of a Hindu man still at large, the outcry among civil society representatives and nationalists continues to grow.

Around two dozen people walked on foot for three days, covering 60 kilometres. They were participating in a long march from Mirpurkhas to Hyderabad, to demand justice for late Bhuro Bheel. The march ended outside Hyderabad Press Club on Monday. Bheel was dug out from his grave in Haji Faqeer village in Pangrio town, Badin, on October 8. The desecraters were allegedly local Muslims outraged by the burial of a Hindu man in a Muslim graveyard. At least 17 suspects were nominated in the FIR but none of them have been arrested so far.

“This was not an insult against an individual Hindu man but to the whole Hindu community living in Sindh,” said Khabarh Bheel, the brother of the deceased who was present at the march. “Hindus have been living in harmony with Muslims in Sindh for centuries,” he claimed, adding that some religious groups were exerting pressure on the police to protect the suspects.



When asked if he was planning to go on an exile, Khabarh said, “Í will suffer every misery at the hands of the religious extremists but will never leave Sindh.”

A leader of Awami Jamhori Party, Vishnu Mal, said the Hindhu middle and lower classes in Sindh are still living at the mercy of the local feudals. “This feudal class and the clergy together are protecting the people who insulted Bheel’s corpse.”

“The cases of migration of Hindu people from upper Sindh areas, forced marriages of Hindu girls and other forms of persecution are constantly growing,” said Mustafa Baloch of Strengthening Participatory Organisation. Advocate Bhagwandas said the Hindu Panchayat has decided to take the matter to the Sindh High Court as the police have shown reluctance.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2013.